Piperazine functionalized mesoporous silica for selective and sensitive detection of ascorbic acid

Ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15 functionalized with piperazine (SBA/Pip) was synthesized via grafting method. Incorporation of piperazine inside the mesopores without affecting the stability of the ordered mesoporous silica could be viewed from different characterization techniques such as Powder X-ray diffraction, N-2 sorption studies, Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy, Scanning Electron microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy. The SBA/Pip nanocomposite was employed as an electrochemical sensor to detect the presence of ascorbic acid ranging from millimolar to nanomolar range via differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) in the potential window of -1.5 to + 1.5 V wherein the scan rate was maintained at 4 mV/s. Further SBA/Pip displayed selective detection of ascorbic acid in packed and fresh orange juice without any interference from other acids like citric acid commonly present in packed juice.