Fabrication of Au nano particles/Fluorine doped Tin Oxide coated glass electrodes via electrophoretic deposition for high-sensitive arsenic (III) detection

Nowadays, one of global environment issues is arsenic pollution. Consequently, developing the effective detection techniques to detect the levels of arsenic-contamination in various mediums is necessary. This work aimed to fabricate the gold nano particles/Fluorine doped Tin Oxide coated glass (FTO) electrode using the electrophoretic technique for highly sensitive As(III) detection . The gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that synthesized from HAuCl4 via ascorbic acid as a reducing agent, were electrophoretically deposited on FTO electrodes at 3 V; UV-Vis spectroscopy of AuNPs/FTO electrodes showed the characteristic peak of AuNPs at 530.5-539.5 nm, that confirmed the deposition of AuNPs on FTO. The field emission scanning electron microscope images illustrated the uniform AuNPs on the surface of the electrodes in the range of 25-40 nm. The linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry curves confirmed that the superior electrochemical performance was belonged to AuNPs/ FTO electrodes preparing at 3 V for 120 minutes. The AuNPs/FTO electrodes were employed for As(III) detection using anodic stripping voltammetry technique and exhibited a linear responses (R2 = 0.98) in the range of 1-50 ppb with limit of detection of 0.81 ppb As(III). Our work confirmed that an electrophoretic deposition of nanomaterials as a simple and promising technique to prepare working electrodes for various electrochemical analyses.

Automated summary

Nowadays, the global environmental issue of arsenic pollution requires the development of effective detection techniques for various mediums. This study successfully fabricated gold nanoparticles/Fluorine doped Tin Oxide coated glass electrodes using the electrophoretic technique for highly sensitive As(III) detection. The electrodes showed superior electrochemical performance and demonstrated linear responses in the range of 1-50 ppb with a limit of detection of 0.81 ppb As(III) using anodic stripping voltammetry. The study confirms the promising use of electrophoretic deposition of nanomaterials for preparing working electrodes in various electrochemical analyses.