Synthesis of ZnO@TiO2 nanoparticles and its application to construct an electrochemical sensor for determination of hydrazine

In the present research, ZnO@TiO2 nanoparticles (ZnO@TiO2 NPs) was synthesized by using a simple method and the results of infrared (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed their synthesis. Then, an electrochemical sensor based on screen printed graphite electrode (SPGE) modified with ZnO@TiO2 NPs was developed for voltammetric detection of hydrazine in water samples. The ZnO@TiO2 NPs modified SPGE demonstrates significant performance toward the hydrazine detection due to the synergistic effect between ZnO NPs and TiO2 NPs and it proved by the results from cyclic voltammetry (CV). Also, the observation of an oxidation peak without a reduction peak in the opposite scan direction indicated the irreversibility of the electrochemical oxidation of hydrazine on both the bare SPGE and the ZnO@TiO2/SPGE. Under optimized conditions (pH and differential pulse parameters), the voltammetric current response of hydrazine at the ZnO@TiO2/SPGE showed linear dependence on the concentration, ranging from 0.01 µM to 585.0 µM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.005 µM. In addition, the pertinency of the ZnO@TiO2/SPGE sensor for practical applications was investigated by quantification detection of hydrazine in water samples. The findings showed recovery values between 97.3% to 104.2% and relative standard deviations (RSDs) ≤ 3.5% for river and tap water samples.