Chemical Engineering Transactions (May 2015)

Electrochemical H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> Sensors Based on Au/CeO<sub>2</sub> Nanoparticles for Industrial Applications

  • C. Ampelli,
  • S. Leonardi,
  • A. Bonavita,
  • C. Genovese,
  • G. Papanikolaou,
  • S. Perathoner,
  • G. Centi,
  • G. Neri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3303/CET1543123
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43

Abstract

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Gold-cerium oxide (Au/CeO2) composite was synthesized by a deposition-precipitation method and used to fabricate a highly sensitive non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection. The morphology and microstructure of the Au/CeO2 composite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). UV-Vis spectroscopy showed a strong plasmonic absorbance (in the range of 500-650 nm) due to Au nanoparticles deposited onto the surface of ceria. Sensing tests carried out by cyclic voltammetry (CV) showed that the Au/CeO2-composite-modified screen-printed carbon electrode exhibited electrocatalytic response to H2O2. By chronoamperometry, a detection limit (S/N=3) as low as 5 µM and a sensitivity of 27.1 µA mM-1cm-2 were measured. These results open the route for a potential use of the fabricated Au/CeO2-based sensor to improve the H2O2 detection ability in many industrial fields.