Performance Improvement of Hydrogen Peroxide Sensor via Cadmium Doped Nickel Oxide Modifying N-Silicon Electrode

Abstract

Cadmium ion doping was carried out during electrochemically cathodic plating nickel hydroxide on platinum films coated n-silicon (Pt/n-n+-Si electrode) in 0.1 M nickel nitrate solution containing 0.035 M cadmium nitrate. The morphology and composition of the products were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. A two-electrode cell based on Cd-doped NiO/Pt/n-n+-Si electrode and a platinum counter has been used for determination of hydrogen peroxide in absence of reference electrode by photocurrent measurement at a zero bias. The emphasis is laid on that the cadmium doping remarkably improves the sensibility of the photoelectrochemical hydrogen peroxide sensor. Under optimizing conditions a sensitivity of 254.6 μA mM-1 cm-2 and a linear response range from 0.02 mM up to 0.12 mM with a determination limit of 2.0 μM were achieved in a potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution at pH =13.3.