Detection of nitrite using a novel electrochemical sensor based on palladium/zinc oxide/ graphene oxide nanocomposite

ABSTRACT

Palladium/zinc oxide loaded on graphene oxide (PZGO) nanocomposites were successfully synthesised in-situ for the first time, and its properties were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and powder-XRD techniques. The prepared nanocomposite was used to modify the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface for the determination of nitrite ions (NO₂⁻) in foodstuffs. The synergetic effect of different layers was then investigated using PZGO nanocomposites and graphene oxide nanoparticles (GO) to modify the GCE surface. Voltammetric analysis showed that the nanocomposite has a desirable catalytic activity towards nitrite oxidation. The proposed sensor can selectively detect nitrite ions within a linear range from 3.17 μM to 1111 μM with a detection limit of 2.39 μM. The synthesised nanocomposites were stable for at least 9 months and the developed sensor had long stability.

KEYWORDS:

• Nanocomposite
• electrochemical sensor
• nitrite detection
• PZGO/GCE

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Nutrition and Food sciences faculty, Nutrition Research Center, and the Vice-Chancellor of Research of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. This article was written based on data obtained from the M.Sc. thesis of Food Science and Technology (quality control). Grants number: 62098

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.