One-step preparation of silver–polyaniline nanotube composite for non-enzymatic hydrogen peroxide detection

Abstract

A modified glassy carbon electrode with silver nanoparticles–polyaniline nanotubes (AgNPs–PANINTs) composite is used as a non-enzymatic nanobiosensor for detecting hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The electrocatalytic activity for the reduction was strongly affected by the concentration of silver ammonia solution in the nanocomposites, with the best electrocatalytic activity observed for the composite of 6:1 volume ratios of PANI to Ag(NH3)2OH (0.04M). Field emission scanning electron microscope images and their size distribution diagrams indicated that using the silver ammonia complex instead of silver nitrate caused uniform distribution of nanometer-sized silver nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution in the composite. The corresponding calibration curve for the current response showed a linear detection range of 0.1–90mM (R2=0.9986), while the limit of detection was estimated to be 0.2μM at the signal to noise ratio of 3.