Ultrasensitive and Selective Hydrazine Determination in Water Samples Using Ag–Cu Heterostructures-Grown Indium Tin Oxide Electrode via Environmentally Benign Methods

Abstract

The present study describes the facile and fast growth of Ag–Cu dendritic nanostructures (D-AgCuNSs) via an environmentally benign electro–electroless deposition method and determination of hydrazine (HZ) in water samples using the resultant D-AgCuNSs-grown indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode. HZ was also successfully determined with the aid of Raman spectroscopy, in which the Raman signal was enhanced 15-fold at D-AgCuNSs in the presence of HZ, in contrast to bare ITO. Initially, CuNSs were grown on the ITO substrates at different applied potentials and the resultant substrates were used in the galvanic displacement reaction with Ag+ ions and thereby grown D-AgCuNSs on the ITO substrate. The growth of D-AgCuNSs was followed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), with respect to time and Ag+ concentration. The D-AgCuNSs grown on ITO substrates were further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and elect...