Protonated carbon nitride induced hierarchically ordered Fe2O3/H-C3N4/rGO architecture with enhanced electrochemical sensing of nitrite

A novel electrochemical nitrite (NaNO2) sensor is fabricated by combining Fe2O3 with protonated carbon nitride (H-C3N4) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The smaller H-C3N4 is distributed uniformly on the surface of the rGO support and acts as a nucleation site for the growth of Fe2O3. Conductive H-C3N4 is a nano-bridge to connect and uniformly distribute Fe2O3, a catalytic center, to the support rGO to enhance the electrocatalytic performance. The Fe2O3/H-C3N4/rGO electrode possesses high sensitivity of 0.04874 mu A mu M-1, wide linear response range spanning 25 nM to 3000 mu M, a low detection limit of 18.55 nM (S/N = 3) and shows high selectivity for nitrite in the presence of common organic and inorganic interfering species (like NaCl, MgSO4, KNO3, ZnSO4, CaCl2, glucose, urea), fulfilling requirements for a nitrite sensor used in commercial applications. (c) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.