Single-Step Fabrication of Nanostructured Palladium Thin Films via Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (AACVD) for the Electrochemical Detection of Hydrazine

Aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) is successfully implemented for the fabrication of nanostructured palladium (Pd) thin films on FTO substrate. The Pd films are produced using a commercially available precursor palladium acetylacetonate (Pd(C5H7O2)2) under the flow of N2 gas without incorporating hydrogen gas or any other reducing agent. This synthetic strategy can effectively confront the previous problems related with conventional CVD approach while depositing palladium thin films such as reduced volatility and thermal instability of precursors. The palladium thin films were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Hydrazine is a colorless and flammable chemical routinely used in rocket fuel, agro-chemicals, textile dyes, and as corrosion inhibitors in various industries. However, hydrazine is a toxic and highly carcinogenic chemical. The newly fabricated palladium nanostructured films were tested for electrochemical sensing of hydrazine in this study. A highly stable and reproducible amperometric response for hydrazine oxidation was obtained with a superior limit of detection (LOD) of 10 nM, and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 33 nM while the sensitivity value calculated was 2.94 μA μM−1 cm−2. A linear concentration range of 1–325 μM was achieved by chronoamperometry.