A disposable modified screen-printed electrode using egg white/ZnO rice structured composite as practical tool electrochemical sensor for formaldehyde detection and its comparative electrochemical study with Chitosan/ZnO nanocomposite

In this study, Chitosan/ZnO nanocomposite (Ch/ZnO) and egg white/ZnO rice structured composite was synthesized by simple wet chemical technique and characterised by various techniques. A comparative electrochemical analysis were carried out and determined that egg white/ZnO rice structured composite modified screen printed electrode (SPCE) showed good electrochemical behaviour. The electrochemical activity of egg white/ZnO rice structured composite SPCE was investigated for the oxidation-reduction of formaldehyde in alkaline media using cyclic voltammetry (CV).Their unique electrocatalytic activity for the formaldehyde found to exhibit 254 mV cathodic current response towards low negative potentials. Based on these results, a novel screen printed sensor (Egg white albumin/ZnO rice structured composite) for the determination of formaldehyde was analysed using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The sensor response was linear from 0.001 mM to 0.005 mM with limit of detection (LOD) 6.2 nM and their sensitivity was found to be 770.68 mM/mu A. The developed electrochemical formaldehyde sensor was successfully applied as working electrode in cyclic vol-tammetric determination of formaldehyde in urine samples. The sensor is selective, inexpensive, stable over several days and disposable as well as simple to manufacture and operate. The system described here can be easily be adapted to other substrates and used as practical tool for formaldehyde analysis.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel egg white/ZnO rice structured composite was successfully synthesized and demonstrated unique electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation-reduction of formaldehyde. The composite showed excellent performance as a sensor for formaldehyde detection, with linear response range, low detection limit, and high sensitivity. The developed sensor was applied for formaldehyde determination in urine samples, showing selectivity, affordability, stability, disposability, simplicity in manufacturing and operation, and potential for practical use in formaldehyde analysis.