Musa sapientum mediated synthesis of Erbium doped copper oxide for the sensitive detection of nitrites and degradation of azo dye

Abstract

The Musa sapientum mediated synthesis of Erbium doped Copper Oxide (Er-CuO) is used to modify the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and has shown to be an electrochemical interface that is sensitive enough to detect nitrite. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX), Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) have been used to characterize the synthesized nanoparticle. In the electrochemical oxidation of nitrite, the Er-CuO electrode displayed greater oxidative current and lower overpotentials than the bare glassy carbon electrode. The recommended sensor showed linear response over the concentration range 10–180 μL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 7.74 μM and sensitivity of 0.00937 μA μM−1 cm−2. The synthesised Er-CuO could also degrade an azo dye-Methyl Red (MR) up to 98 per cent when exposed to visible light. The effects of different variables on photocatalysis, such as pH, dye concentration, and catalyst concentration, were investigated. Er-CuO may degrade 20 mg/L of MR up to 97 per cent at an ideal pH of 7.0 and 20 mg of catalyst concentration. The results demonstrate that Er-CuO is stable and can still degrade MR to 80 per cent even after 5 cycles. These stability test results demonstrate that Er-CuO is well stable for MR degradation under light and in nitrite electrochemical sensing.