Integrated polyaniline with graphene oxide-iron tungsten nitride nanoflakes as ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for precise detection of 4-nitrophenol within aquatic media

Abstract

Extensive release of highly toxic pollutants within the ecosystem resulting from industrial/human activities has adversely affected the life of living species and raised the requirement for development of sensitive/accurate detection systems for monitoring the level of hazardous pollutants within the ecosystem. Among these toxic pollutants, 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and its derived compounds applied serious damages to the nature that require practical protocols to remove them from the environment. To address this demand, we boosted the polymeric structure and sensitivity of polyaniline (PANi) through its reinforcement with decorated graphene oxide (GO) nanoflakes with interconnected, porous and highly dense pattern of iron tungsten nitride (GO-ITN) toward modification of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for precise and real-time detection of 4-NP within the aqueous media. The developed nanocomposite showed superior sensitivity along with improved protonation that exhibited detection limit/quantification limit/sensitivity of 5.2 nM/18.2 nM/253.08 μA.μM.cm−2 and 2.4 nM/7.1 nM/354.92 μA.μM.cm−2 for oxidation and reduction peak currents, respectively. The developed sensor also showed superior sensitivity toward detection of 4-NP within real samples which highlighting the capability and functionality of the developed sensor toward the real-time detection of 4-NP within different aqueous media.