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Electrochemical determination of 4-nitrophenol in environmental water samples using porous graphitic carbon nitride-coated screen-printed electrode

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Abstract

We demonstrate a facile preparation of novel oxidized graphitic carbon nitride (O-gC3N4) applied as an efficient electrocatalyst for highly sensitive electrochemical detection of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in environmental water samples. As-prepared O-gC3N4 were characterized by attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction methods for the confirmation of different functional groups and structural phase of O-gC3N4. The surface morphology of the O-gC3N4 was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Results revealed that the synthesized gC3N4 possessed acid functional groups, nanosheet with porous in nature. The O-gC3N4 was drop cast on the screen-printed electrode (SPE), and it was applied for electrochemical determination of 4-NP using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques. The O-gC3N4/SPE exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity towards 4-NP detection. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the DPV response of O-gC3N4/SPE showed good linear range from 0.0033 to 0.313 μM with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.075 μM. The developed electrode has successfully applied for the determination of 4-NP in different environmental water samples, and the results have shown satisfied.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, for supporting the work.

Funding

The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Science and Technology-Taiwan Research Grant (107-2113-M-037-007-MY2). The study was also supported by the Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from “The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project” by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan, and NSYSU-KMU collaboration research project (NSYSU-KMU 107-I004)-Taiwan for research grant supports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicinal and Applied Chemistry, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, 807, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Manikandan Ramalingam & Vinoth Kumar Ponnusamy

  2. Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, 807, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Vinoth Kumar Ponnusamy

  3. Department of Analytical Chemistry, School of Chemical Sciences, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600 025, India

    Sriman Narayanan Sangilimuthu

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  1. Manikandan Ramalingam
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  2. Vinoth Kumar Ponnusamy
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  3. Sriman Narayanan Sangilimuthu
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Correspondence to Vinoth Kumar Ponnusamy.

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Ramalingam, M., Ponnusamy, V.K. & Sangilimuthu, S.N. Electrochemical determination of 4-nitrophenol in environmental water samples using porous graphitic carbon nitride-coated screen-printed electrode. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 17481–17491 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05494-3

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