Development of highly sensitive H2O2 redox sensor from electrodeposited tellurium nanoparticles using ionic liquid

A new, non-enzymatic, low-cost sensor based on tellurium nanoparticles (TeNPs) for the analytical determination of H2O2 has been proposed. An economically viable electrochemical technique was employed for the synthesis of TeNPs based non-enzymatic H2O2 sensor. Thin films of TeNPs were successfully electrodeposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate using [BMIM] [Ac] ionic liquid at 90 degrees C. The effect of deposition potential on the morphology, phase formation, and electrochemical characterisation of nanostructured Te films has been studied. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to characterize the nanostructured Te films on Fro surface. The electro-catalytic performance of the proposed TeNPs/FTO sensor has been studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) in phosphate buffer (Argon saturated) in the absence and presence of H2O2. TeNPs/FTO fabricated at applied potential of -1.40 V showed an excellent electro-catalytic activity towards H2O2 reduction. The proposed TeNPs/FTO sensor shows an excellent sensitivity of 757 A mu M-1 cm(-2). The sensor possess good selectivity and stability with an excellent amperometric response time of about 5 s. The present study also demonstrates that TeNPs/FTO is a promising sensing material suitable for determination of H2O2 in practical samples.