Sno2 quantum dots as novel platform for electrochemical sensing of cadmium

Abstract

This paper reports, for the first time, the fabrication and characterization of highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor for the efficient detection of cadmium ion using SnO2 quantum dots (QDs). The SnO2 QDs were prepared by simple and facile low-temperature hydrothermal process and characterized by several techniques. The detailed characterizations revealed that the QDs are pure SnO2, prepared in large quantity with the average size of 2–4nm and possessing well-crystallinity with tetragonal crystal structure. Further, the prepared SnO2 QDs were used as potential scaffold to fabricate highly sensitive, selective and reproducible electrochemical sensor for the efficient detection of cadmium ions. The fabricated sensor exhibited a high sensitivity of ∼77.5×102 nA ppm−1 cm−2, a low detection limit of ∼0.5ppm and response time of <2s. The presented work demonstrates that the SnO2 QDs are effective electron mediators to fabricated efficient electrochemical sensor for the easy, cost effective and accurate on-site detection of cadmium ions in solution.