Preparation of vinyl polymer stabilized silver nanospheres for electro-analytical determination of H2O2

Silver nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) were synthesized using a simple route for the fabrication of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensor. UV-vis spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence and crystalline nature of the silver nanoparticles. The morphology of the material was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The electrochemical properties were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The fabricated sensor showed a significant catalytic activity towards H2O2 reduction, attributable to silver nanospheres protected by vinyl polymer. The sensor responds to H2O2 in a wide linear range and the detection limit was 40 nM which is lower than most of the silver NPs based sensors reported recently. The sensor exhibits good selectivity, reproducibility and long term stability with a swift response time of 2s. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.