Impact of CuO nanoparticles on the performance of ternary conductive C-PANI/(OXSWCNTs-GO-CS)/CuO network as a selective chlorophenol sensor

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper reports an electrochemical sensor developed based on cross-linked polyaniline/(chitosan-oxidized single-walled carbon nanotube-graphene oxide/copper oxide) nanocomposite (C-PANI/(OXSWCNTs-GO-CS)/CuO NCs) for detection of a 4-chlorophenol (4-CP). The NCs synthesized by an in-situ chemical polymerization method and characterized by various techniques include XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, HR-TEM, TGA-DTG, DTA and cyclic voltammetry. A 4-CP selective electrochemical sensor was fabricated by coating a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with synthesized NCs. The experimental results reported here displayed the good electrochemical property toward 4-CP oxidation with a detection limit of 0.13 µM (S/N = 3) and good current stability. It also had an impressive percent recovery of the spiked 4-CP in real environmental samples. The improved sensing performances were attributed to the formation of the network structure of C-PANI/(OXSWCNTs-GO-CS)/CuO NCs. Therefore, this study presents a sensitive and promising 4-CP electrochemical sensor for water quality management and human health protection. Graphical Abstract