Electrochemical Determination of Nitrite Using a Gold Nanoparticles-modified Glassy Carbon Electrode Prepared by the Seed-mediated Growth Technique

Yanping CUI1), Changzhu YANG1), Wei ZENG1), Munetaka OYAMA2), Wenhong PU1) and Jingdong ZHANG1)

1) College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology 2) Division of Research Initiatives, International Innovation Center, Kyoto University

(Received May 15, 2007) (Accepted July 17, 2007)

Seed-mediated growth of gold nanoparticles on glassy carbon (GC) surfaces was developed. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and electrochemical characterization confirmed the effective attachment of gold nanoparticles on GC surface with such a wet-chemical method. The as-prepared gold nanoparticles attached glassy carbon electrode (Au/GCE) presented excellent catalytic ability toward the oxidation of nitrite. Compared with bare GCE and planar gold electrode, the Au/GCE obviously decreased the overpotential of nitrite oxidation and improved the peak current. The catalytic current was found to be linearly proportional to the nitrite concentration in the range of 1 × 10-5 - 5 × 10-3 M, with a detection limit of 2.4 × 10-6 M. The Au/GCE was successfully applied to the electrochemical determination of nitrite in a real wastewater sample, showing excellent stability and anti-interference ability.

Anal. Sci., Vol. 23, p.1421, (2007)