Pt-Decorated Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide Nanowire Arrays As Highly Sensitive H2O2 sensor Electrodes

Abstract

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) nanowre aways were grown on top of commercial FTO glass through a vapor-liquid-solid process, by using Au nanocrystals as the anisotropic growth catalyst, tin powders as the precursor, and NH4F as the fluorine source. This extended 3-D FTO nanostructure was then decorated with Pt nanocrystals, with a polyol method, to serve as a sensing electrode for H2O2. These FTO nanowires not only offer greatly enlarged sensing area and fast charge transport channels, but also significantly enhance the hydrophilicity of the electrode, all beneficial for electrochemical sensing of aqueous samples. A two-order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity toward H2O2 over the plain commercial FTO glass was achieved, reaching a high sensitivity value of 272 mA/M.