A Sensitive Hydrazine Electrochemical Sensor Based on Zinc Oxide Nano-Wires

• Published in: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Vol. 161; no. 6; pp. B157 - B162
• Main Authors: Zhao, Zhenting, Sun, Yongjiao, Li, Pengwei, Sang, Shengbo, Zhang, Wendong, Hu, Jie, Lian, Kun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Electrochemical Society 01.01.2014
• ISSN: 0013-4651; 1945-7111
• DOI: 10.1149/2.095406jes

A sensitive hydrazine electrochemical sensor based on Zinc oxide nano-wires (ZnO NWs) synthesized from low temperature hydrothermal method has been fabricated using an add-on technique. The morphology, crystalline structures, and composition of synthesized ZnO NWs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The batch-made ZnO NWs were used as electrocatalytic material and modified on the gold electrode surface through a printing-like method via Nafion to obtain Nafion/ZnO NWs/Au hydrazine electrochemical sensor. To optimize performance, the effect of the ZnO modified quantity on sensitivity was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopic, and single-potential amperometry techniques. The results show that the optimum ZnO NWs modified quantity is about 170 μg·cm−2. The optimized Nafion/ZnO NWs/Au hydrazine electrochemical sensor has a high sensitivity of 3.8 μA·μM−1·cm−2, a short response time of 3 s, and a very low detection limit of 0.0144 μM with a linear hydrazine concentration response range from 3.0 to 562 μM.