Synthesis, characterization, and electrocatalytic behaviour of hydrothermally grown nanostructured La2 O3 and La2 O3 /K-complex.

Abstract

Rare earth metals play a conspicuous role in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting cancerous cells. The alkali metal potassium is a neurotransmitter in the sodium-potassium pump in biomedical sciences. This unique property of rare earth metals and potassium drew our attention to carry forward this study. Therefore, in this work, previously synthesized potassium (K) complexes formed by the reflux of 4-N,N-dimethylaminobenzoic acid (DBA) and potassium hydroxide in methanol, and named [(μ2-4-N,N-dimethylaminobenzoate-κO)(μ2-4-N,N-dimethylaminobenzoic acid-κO)(4-N,N-dimethylaminobenzoic acid-κO) potassium(I) coordination polymer)] were treated hydrothermally with La2 O3 nanomaterials to obtain a nanohybrid La2 O3 /K-complex. After that, the K-complex was analyzed using single-crystal X-ray diffraction and 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy. In addition, the structural and morphological properties of the as-prepared nanostructured La2 O3 /K-complex were also characterized, which involved an investigation using X-ray diffraction (XRD)spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, atomic force spectroscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. After this, the electrochemical redox behaviour of the synthesized nanohybrid material was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Therefore, the results from these studies revealed that the as-prepared material was a La2 O3 /K-complex that has a promising future role in sensing various analytes, as it showed effective electrocatalytic behaviour.