Clay-mesoporous silica composite films generated by electro-assisted self-assembly

Composite Silica-Based Films as Platforms for Electrochemical Sensors

Sol-gel-derived silica thin films generated onto electrode surfaces in the form of organic-inorganic hybrid coatings or other composite layers have found tremendous interest for being used as platforms for the development of electrochemical sensors and biosensors. After a brief description of the strategies applied to prepare such materials, and their interest as electrode modifier, this review will summarize the major advances made so far with composite silica-based films in electroanalysis. It will primarily focus on electrochemical sensors involving both non-ordered composite films and vertically oriented mesoporous membranes, the biosensors exploiting the concept of sol-gel bioencapsulation on electrode, the spectroelectrochemical sensors, and some others.

Importing Tin Nanoparticles into Biomass-Derived Silicon Oxycarbides with High-Rate Cycling Capability Based on Supercritical Fluid Technology

Silicon oxycarbides (SiOC) are regarded as potential anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, although inferior cycling stability and rate performance greatly limit their practical applications. Herein, amorphous SiOC is synthesized from Chlorella by means of a biotemplate method based on supercritical fluid technology. On this basis, tin particles with sizes of several nanometers are introduced into the SiOC matrix through the biosorption feature of Chlorella. As lithium-ion battery anodes, SiOC and Sn@SiOC can deliver reversible capacities of 440 and 502 mAh g^-1 after 300 cycles at 100 mA g^-1 with great cycling stability. Furthermore, as-synthesized Sn@SiOC presents an excellent high-rate cycling capability, which exhibits a reversible capacity of 209 mAh g^-1 after 800 cycles at 5000 mA g^-1 ; this is 1.6 times higher than that of SiOC. Such a novel approach has significance for the preparation of high-performance SiOC-based anodes.

Synthesis and Voltammetric Determination of Pb(II) Using a ZIF-8-Based Electrode

Zeolite imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) was prepared by the hydrothermal process. The obtained ZIF-8 was a characteristic of X-ray-diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), thermal gravity-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The obtained ZIF-8 possessed large specific area and was highly dispersed. Its morphology consisted of nanospherical particles with 30–50 nm in diameter. Chemical stability of ZIF-8 in different conditions was studied. The ZIF-8 was used as an electrode modifier for the determination of trace levels of lead. The parameters including solvents and solution pH were investigated. The repeatability, reproducibility, accuracy, linear range, limit of detection, and limit of quantitation were also addressed. The results showed that ZIF-8 is a potential electrode modifier for differential pulse anodic stripping method to determine Pb(II) in aqueous solution.

3-Mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane Modified Diatomite: Preparation and Application for Voltammetric Determination of Lead (II) and Cadmium (II)

In this study, functionalized diatomite was prepared by grafting of 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS) to diatomite (MPTMS-diatomite). The diatomite with thermal treatment from 100 to 700°C was functionalized by MPTMS under dry and humid conditions. The obtained MPTMS-diatomite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravity-differential scanning calorimeter (TG-DSC), and Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR). The results showed that an increase in treatment temperature seems to reduce the loading of MPTMS onto diatomite. The humidity of diatomite was favorable for the grafting of functional groups on the surface. The possible mechanisms of MPTMS loading to diatomite (MPTMS-diatomite) were also proposed. The performance of a carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with MPTMS-diatomite in the simultaneous determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions was addressed.

Design and evaluation of a highly sensitive nanostructure-based surface modification of glassy carbon electrode for electrochemical studies of hydroxychloroquine in the presence of acetaminophen

N,N'-bis[(E)-(1-pyridyl) methylidene]-1,3-propanediamine (PMPDA) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) was covalently prepared on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The electrode surface modification was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. Then GC-PMPDA SAM modified electrode was used to investigate the electrochemical behavior of hydroxychloroquine (HQ) using CV, double potential step chronocoulometry and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) techniques. Using these techniques, the diffusion coefficient (D), electron transfer coefficient (α) and exchanging current density (j0) for HQ were calculated. Furthermore the modified electrode was applied as a high sensitive biosensor for determination of HQ in the presence of acetaminophen (AC). The GC-PMPDA SAM modified electrode provides two linear responses for HQ in the presence of AC in the concentration ranges from 0.09 to 10.21 μM and 10.21 to 98.29 μM by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The detection limit (three times the signal blank/slope) was 4.65 nM. Finally the modified electrode was satisfactorily used for determining of HQ in human body fluids.

Tetrabutylammonium-modified clay film electrodes: characterization and application to the detection of metal ions

This work describes the preparation and characterization of smectite clay partially exchanged with tetrabutylammonium ions (TBA(+)) and its subsequent deposition onto glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for application to the preconcentration electroanalysis of metal ions (Cd, Pb, and Cu). Such partial exchange of TBA(+) induces the expansion of the interlayer region between the clay sheets (as ascertained by XRD) while maintaining its ion exchange capacity, which resulted in enhanced mass transport rates (as pointed out by electrochemical monitoring of permeability properties of these thin (organo)clay films on GCE). This principle was applied here to the anodic stripping square wave voltammetric analysis of metal ions after accumulation at open circuit. Among others, detection limits as low as 3.6×10(-8)M for copper and 7.2×10(-8)M for cadmium have been achieved.