Highly-sensitive and selective detection of hydrazine at gold electrode modified with PEG-coated CdS nanoparticles

PEG-coated CdS nanoparticles (P-CdS NPs) modified gold (CdS/Au) electrode has been used as an efficient electron mediator for the fabrication of highly sensitive chemical sensor for detection of hydrazine, which is a well known neurotoxin and carcinogen. P-CdS NPs of mean diameter 15 nm and hexagonal crystallites have been synthesized using microwave irradiation method and characterized by various techniques. The prepared CdS/Au electrode has been used for detection of hydrazine which yields a high sensitivity of 89 mu A/cm(2) mu M and detection limit of 0.061 mu M. The response time of sensor is <4 s and sensor responded linearly for concentration range of 100-1000 mu M. The sensor has also been found to be selective for hydrazine even in presence of common interferents. Moreover, the sensor has been tested for analysis of real world samples, which makes it useful in practical area of environment applications. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.