NiO-Co3O4-rGO as a Multicomponent Transition Metal Oxide Nanocatalyst for Ultra-level Detection of Nitrite in Beef and Tap Water Samples

The detection of nitrite as a challenging compound in food industries has always been a necessity. To this purpose, herein, two transition metal oxide-based nanocatalysts, NiO-Co3O4 (NC) and its reduced graphene hybridized form, NiO-Co3O4-rGO (NCR), are synthesized by a hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) mapping. The synthesized materials are exploited to modify a glassy carbon electrode and fabricate an effective sensor for nitrite detection in real samples through differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). NCR shows excellent sensitivity (40.44 mu A per dec), very low limit of detection (20 x 10(-9) m), significant accuracy, and good stability at the wide range of nitrite ions (100-500 x 10(-9) m) in real samples.

Automated summary

In this study, two transition metal oxide-based nanocatalysts were synthesized and used to fabricate a sensor for nitrite detection. The sensor showed excellent sensitivity, low detection limit, significant accuracy, and good stability.