Electrodeposition of Pd-Pt Nanocomposites on Porous GaN for Electrochemical Nitrite Sensing

• Main Authors: Rui Xi, Shao-Hui Zhang, Long Zhang, Chao Wang, Lu-Jia Wang, Jing-Hui Yan, Ge-Bo Pan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: porous GaN; electrodeposition; Pd-Pt nanocomposites; nitrite detection
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/3/606

In recent years, nitrite pollution has become a subject of great concern for human lives, involving a number of fields, such as environment, food industry and biological process. However, the effective detection of nitrite is an instant demand as well as an unprecedented challenge. Here, a novel nitrite sensor was fabricated by electrochemical deposition of palladium and platinum (Pd-Pt) nanocomposites on porous gallium nitride (PGaN). The obtained Pd-Pt/PGaN sensor provides abundant electrocatalytic sites, endowing it with excellent performances for nitrite detection. The sensor also shows a low detection limit of 0.95 µM, superior linear ampere response and high sensitivity (150 µA/mM for 1 to 300 µM and 73 µA/mM for 300 to 3000 µM) for nitrite. In addition, the Pd-Pt/PGaN sensor was applied and evaluated in the determination of nitrite from the real environmental samples. The experimental results demonstrate that the sensor has good reproducibility and long-term stability. It provides a practical way for rapidly and effectively monitoring nitrite content in the practical application.