Electrochemical fabrication of gold nanoparticles decorated on activated fullerene C60: an enhanced sensing platform for trace level detection of toxic hydrazine in water samples

Abstract

A novel and highly sensitive amperometric hydrazine sensor was fabricated using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) decorated on activated fullerene C60 (AC60) modified screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE). An electrochemical method was used for the fabrication of the AC60–AuNPs modified SPCE which was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and elemental analysis. The fabricated AC60–AuNPs modified SPCE showed an enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards hydrazine over that of other modified SPCEs. Furthermore, the detection potential of hydrazine was notably lower (0.161 V) at the AuNPs decorated AC60 modified SPCE than AuNPs decorated bare (0.208 V) and C60 (0.186 V) modified SPCEs. Under optimum conditions, the amperometric response of the sensor was linear over the hydrazine concentrations from 0.13 μM to 1.21 mM with a fast response time of 1.3 s. In addition, the proposed sensor showed the lowest limit of detection (LOD) of 0.039 μM, with a high sensitivity of 0.583 μA μM⁻¹ cm⁻². The sensor also holds its high selectivity in the presence of common metal ions and biologically active interfering species. In addition, the practicality of the fabricated sensor in tap water samples is comparable with those detected by the HPLC method.