The preparation of Fe
2
O
3
nanoparticles by liquid
phase-based ultrasonic-assisted method and its
application as enzyme-free sensor for the detection
of H
2
O
2
Chen Hao,
*
a
Feng Feng,
a
Xiaohong Wang,
*
a
Min Zhou,
a
Yutao Zhao,
b
Cunwang Ge
c
and Kun Wang
a
Iron oxide nanoparticles with high electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen peroxide were developed by liquid
phase-based ultrasonic-assisted method using sodium lignosulphonate as surfactant. The influence of the
different preparation conditions including addition of sodium lignosulfonate (SLS) and calcining
temperature was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area. Then,
the as-prepared Fe
2
O
3
with graphene (G) was further fixed on the surface of glassy carbon electrode
(GCE) using chitosan (CS) as a crosslinking agent. The electrochemical properties of the prepared
G-Fe
2
O
3
-NPS-CS/GCE senor were estimated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Finally,
the G-Fe
2
O
3
-NPS-CS/GCE (1.0 g SLS, calcined 400
C) senor showed an excellent electrocatalytic
activity towards hydrogen peroxide, which displayed high sensitivity (385.59 mAmM
1
cm
2
), wide
detection range (0.5–7800 mM), low detection limit (0.5 mM) and a fast response time less than 2 s.
Furthermore, the sensor also exhibited good anti-interference for ascorbic acid and uric acid, excellent
repeatability and long-term stability. These results indicated that the G-Fe
2
O
3
-NPS-CS/GCE (1.0 g SLS,
calcined 400
C) senor held great potential for the detection of hydrogen peroxide.
Introduction
Nanomaterials have become one of the most active research
orientations in the areas of physics, chemistry, and engineering
since 1990, due to the small particle size, large specic surface
area, high surface energy and unique surface effect, small-size
effect, and macroscopical quanta tunnel effect, etc.
1–4
In the
past several decades, various types of nanomaterials such as Au,
Ag, TiO
2
, SiO
2
, and ZnO etc. have been widely applied as pho-
tocatalyst, functional ceramics, sensor, solar cell and biology
functional material.
5–9
Among the various kinds of nano-
materials, iron oxide as an important oxide has been studied for
a wide range of applications because it is environmentally
friendly, non-toxic, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant
material.
10,11
At the same time, because of the low density,
large surface, high stability, and remarkable sensitivity of the
conductivity to temperature, humidity and concentration, the
Fe
2
O
3
semiconductor shows a broad and good prospect for
application in the eld of sensing materials.
On the other hand, the reliable and rapid determination of
hydrogen peroxide (H
2
O
2
) is of great importance in biology and
chemistry elds because it is not only used as an important
oxidizing agent in food and chemical industries, but also widely
used as a mediator in food, pharmaceutical, clinical, industrial
and environmental analysis.
12–15
Many techniques have been
successfully used for the detection of H
2
O
2
, such as titrimetry,
spectrophotometry, uorescence, chemiluminescene and elec-
trochemistry. Compared with other detection methods, elec-
trochemistry has attracted more and more interest of
researchers, due to the convenience, high sensitivity, and
excellent precision of the technique.
16–18
Some electrochemical
sensors with a high sensitivity and speci city for detection of
H
2
O
2
, such as NF/CAT/MWCNTs-COOH/Cys-AuNPs/GC,
CAT/MgO-NPs/CPE, GC/MWCNT-NiO/CAT and GC/MWCNTs/
[bmim][PF
6
]/CAT have been successfully developed.
19–22
Most of
the above mentioned electrochemical sensors were constructed
based on enzymes or proteins. Enzyme-modied electro-
chemical sensors can achieve high sensitivity and excellent
selectivity, however, there are many defects of enzyme-based
electrochemical sensors, such as instability, limited lifetime,
high cost and complicated modication procedure. Its activity,
a
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu
212013, China. E-mail: chhao@ujs.edu.cn; xhwang@ujs.edu.cn; Fax: +86 511
88791800; Tel: +86 511 88791800
b
School of Material Science & Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu
212013, China
c
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu
226019, China
Cite this: RSC Adv.,2015,5,21161
Received 29th December 2014
Accepted 16th February 2015
DOI: 10.1039/c4ra17226d
www.rsc.org/advances
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2015 RSC Adv.,2015,5, 21161–21169 | 21161
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