Nanostructured SnO2 integrated conductive fabrics as binder-free electrode for neurotransmitter detection

Abstract

Exploiting metal oxide nanostructured material as a binder-free electrode material is the key in designing novel electrochemical sensing devices. A conductive carbon yarns (CCY) decorated with definite block shaped SnO2 nanosheets have been constructed and used as a label-free detection of dopamine (DA). Hydrothermal process was used to anchor SnO2 nanostructures on to the surface of CCY. The crystallinity, structure, morphology, elemental and the surface area analysis were performed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FE-SEM/EDS) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) instruments. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, elongation and young’s modulus have also been investigated. In its optimal conditions, the sensor demonstrated a detection limit of 53 nM with a wide linear range from 0.01 to 150 μM for the determination of DA. The proposed SnO2/CCY binder free electrode showed high repeatability, reproducibility with outstanding anti-interference ability towards co-existing molecules such as ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA). The strategy developed in this work can be scalable and may open up a new approach for making binder-free electrocatalytic sensors on wearable platform.