Facile and green synthesis of silver nanoparticle-reduced graphene oxide composite and its application as nonenzymatic electrochemical sensor for hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

A simple and environment friendly protocol has been developed for the synthesis of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) supported on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with copper metal foil as reductant. The prepared AgNPs-rGO, nanocomposite was characterized by various analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical performance of the material has been evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The average crystallite size of AgNPs is found to be 32.34 nm. The application of prepared electrocatalyst (AgNPs-rGO) as a non-enzymatic sensor is examined through the modified electrode with the synthesized AgNPs-rGO. The sensor showed excellent performance toward H2O2 reduction with a sensitivity of 12.73 µA.cm-2.mM-1, with a linear dynamic range of 1.5 µM – 100 mM, and the detection limit of 1.90 µM (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the sensor displayed high sensitivity, reproducibility, stability and selectivity for the determination of H2O2. The results demonstrated that AgNPs-rGO has potential applications as sensing material for quantitative determination of H2O2.