Electrochemical Detection of Trace Amount of Arsenic (III) at Glassy Carbon Electrode Modified with Au/Fe3O4 Nanocomposites

Abstract

Herein, we present Au/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite (NC) modified electrodes for trace level detection of Arsenic by cyclic voltammetry. Gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by one step chemical reduction of chloroauric acid in presence of trisodium citrate and sodium borohydrate, while Fe₃O₄ NPs were synthesized by co-precipitation. These NPs (Au & Fe₃O₄) were mixed in different ratios and characterized thereafter for their size, shape and optical properties using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), UV-Visible Spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). NCs were deposited on glassy carbon electrodes using simple drop casting method and characterized for their electrochemical response using K₃FeCN₆ as redox probe. The electrochemical response of optimized modified electrode toward As (III) was examined with cyclic voltammetry and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV). The results manifest that synthesized NCs have very good potential towards As (III) and can be optimized further for low level detection of it. This study opens up a new possibility of designing an electrochemical sensor based on these NCs.