Facile chemical synthesis of Ca3MgAl10O17 nanomaterials for photocatalytic and non-enzymatic sensor applications

Abstract

In this study, calcium magnesium aluminate (Ca3MgAl10O17) nanomaterials (CMA NMs) have been synthesized via a simple and cost-effective chemical combustion method using urea as a fuel for the first time. The orthorhombic crystal structure of CMA NMs was confirmed during X-ray diffraction analysis. The lattice grain size of CMA was found in the range of 20 to 25 nm. Kubelka–Munk function was utilized to study diffuse reflectance spectra and the band gap of the nanoparticles was determined to be 5.42 eV. HRTEM-SAED analysis revealed that the CMA NMs were nearly spherical in shape with interplanar spacing value of 0.19 nm. Acid orange-88 (AO-88) dye was used as a model dye to study the photocatalytic properties of the NMs under ultraviolet light irradiation. The degradation study on CMA NMs conformed superior AO-88 dye degradation with 92.25% efficiency proving these NMs to be excellent photocatalysts. The EIS measurements revealed the low charge transfer resistance (Rct) and high capacitance (C) values of 35.36 Ω and 2.815 × 10-3 F respectively, for the prepared CMA electrode. For sensor-based applications, dextrose and metal ions like arsenic, lead, mercury and tin were chosen as analytes. The modified carbon paste electrode of CMA NMs exhibited decent charge transfer properties with an efficient dextrose sensing ability in KCl electrolyte and metal sensing ability in alkaline medium. These results corroborated that the CMA NMs can be a promising electrode material for sensing dextrose and few selected metals with high electrode reversibility. The synthesized CMA NMs are expected to offer significant futuristic opportunities towards multifunctional applications for environmental remediation.

Keywords

• Calcium magnesium aluminate
• Photocatalyst
• Acid orange-88
• Dextrose
• Metal sensor