A Novel Electrochemical Sensor Based on Flower Shaped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for the Efficient Detection of Dopamine

In this paper, a novel electrochemical sensor based on flower shaped Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles for the determination of dopamine is reported. Flower shaped ZnO nanoparticles is synthesized by a new aqueous solution method without the use of any shape directing reagents and the verification of its successful formation is carried out by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Differential Pulse voltammetry (DPV) and amperometric (i-t) techniques are used to study the electrochemical characteristics of flower shaped ZnO nanoparticles. In this study, the lower oxidation potential and higher oxidation peak current of flower shaped ZnO modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) indicates that its electrocatalytic activity is better than bare GCE in the oxidation of dopamine. Even in the presence of common interfacing compounds, the modified GCE exhibited excellent selectivity which is a trait of good electrochemical sensor. The linear response range of the fabricated electrochemical sensor based on flower shaped ZnO nanoparticles is 0.1- 16 mu M limit of detection is 0.04 mu M and the sensitivity is 4.38 mu A mu M(-1)cm(-2). The low detection limit, excellent sensitivity and wide linear response range signified the efficiency of flower shaped ZnO nanoparticles based electrochemical sensor for the detection of dopamine.