Novel polypyrrole-carbon black doped ZnO nanocomposite for efficient amperometric detection of hydroquinone

Abstract

Long-term exposure to hydroquinone (HQ) results in severe eye irritation and sometimes can lead to impaired vision. Therefore, we have proposed a novel electrochemical sensor for efficient detection of HQ using a new polypyrrole/carbon black doped ZnO nanocomposite (PPy/CB/ZnO NC) fabricated glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The structure and morphology of PPy/CB/ZnO active material were investigated using FE-SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy. With a high sensitivity of 0.5405 μAμM−1cm−2 and an ultra-low limit of detection (LOD) of 22.9 ± 0.1 nM, this innovative electrochemical hydroquinone sensor can determine a wide range of HQ from 0.9 μM to 6.5 mM in neutral pH. This newly developed HQ sensor was also applied to detect potential chemical interfering species. The proposed HQ sensor demonstrated highly acceptable results in real sample analysis using the standard addition method. During the electrochemical detection of HQ, this novel PPy/CB/ZnO/GCE assembly showed exceptional reproducibility, repeatability and stability. Therefore, this approach will be an efficient technique to develop a selective and sensitive electrochemical sensor in detecting hazardous phenolic derivatives for the green environment.