The human population is generally subjected to diverse pollutants and contaminants in the environment like those in the air, soil, foodstuffs, and drinking water. Therefore, the development of novel purification techniques and efficient detection devices for pollutants is an important challenge. To date, experts in the field have designed distinctive analytical procedures for the detection of pollutants including gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy. While the mentioned procedures enjoy high sensitivity, they suffer from being laborious, expensive, require advanced skills for operation, and are inconvenient to deploy as a result of their massive size. Therefore, in response to the above-mentioned limitations, electrochemical sensors are being developed that enjoy robustness, selectivity, sensitivity, and real-time measurements. Considerable advancements in nanomaterials-based electrochemical sensor platforms have helped to generate new technologies to ensure environmental and human safety. Recently, investigators have expanded considerable effort to utilize polymer nanocomposites for building the electrochemical sensors in view of their promising features such as very good electrocatalytic activities, higher electrical conductivity, and effective surface area in comparison to the traditional polymers. Herein, the first section of this review briefly discusses the most important methods for polymer nanocomposites synthesis, such as in situ polymerization, direct mixing of polymer and nanofillers (melt-mixing and solution-mixing), sol-gel, and electrochemical methods. It then summarizes the current utilization of polymer nanocomposites for the preparation of electrochemical sensors as a novel approach for monitoring and detecting environmental pollutants which include heavy metal ions, pesticides, phenolic compounds, nitroaromatic compounds, nitrite, and hydrazine in different mediums. Finally, the current challenges and future directions for the polymer nanocomposites-based electrochemical sensing of environmental pollutants are outlined.

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The electrocatalytic performance of carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with ferrocene-derivative (ethyl2-(4-ferrocenyl[1,2,3]triazol-1-yl)acetate), ionic liquid (n-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate), and CoS2-carbon nanotube nanocomposite (EFTA/IL/CoS2-CNT/CPE) was investigated for the electrocatalytic detection of hydrazine. CoS2-CNT nanocomposite was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. According to the results of cyclic voltammetry, the EFTA/IL/CoS2-CNT-integrated CPE has been accompanied by greater catalytic activities for hydrazine oxidation compared to the other electrodes in phosphate buffer solution at a pH 7.0 as a result of the synergistic impact of fused ferrocene-derivative, IL, and nanocomposite. The sensor responded linearly with increasing concentration of hydrazine from 0.03 to 500.0 μM with a higher sensitivity (0.073 μA μM-1) and lower limit of detection (LOD, 0.015 μM). Furthermore, reasonable reproducibility, lengthy stability, and excellent selectivity were also attained for the proposed sensor. Finally, EFTA/IL/CoS2-CNT/CPE was applied for the detection of hydrazine in water samples, and good recoveries varied from 96.7 to 103.0%.

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A novel greener methodology is reported for the synthesis of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) using gum Arabic (Acacia senegal) and the characterization of the ensuing TiO2 NPs by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution-TEM, and UV-visible spectroscopy. The XRD analysis confirmed the formation of TiO2 NPs in the anatase phase with high crystal purity, while TEM confirmed the size to be 8.9 ± 1.5 nm with a spherical morphology. The electrode for the electrochemical detection of Pb2+ ions was modified by a carbon paste fabricated using the synthesized TiO2 NPs. Compared to the bare electrode, the fabricated electrode exhibited improved electro-catalytic activity toward the reduction of Pb2+ ions. The detection limit, quantification limit, and the sensitivity of the developed electrode were observed by using differential pulse voltammetry to be 506 ppb, 1.68 ppm, and 0.52 ± 0.01 μA μM-1, respectively. The constructed electrode was tested for the detection of lead content in plastic toys.

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