Tetrahydrofuran and hydrogen peroxide mediated conversion of potassium hexacyanoferrate into Prussian blue nanoparticles: Application to hydrogen peroxide sensing

We report herein the synthesis of water soluble Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) from single precursor potassium hexacynoferrate. It has been found that potassium hexacyanoferrate undergo rapid conversion into water soluble PBNPs in the presence of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at 60 °C. The nanomaterial having average size to the order of 38 nm is highly stable as homogeneous suspension for longer period (>3 months). The as synthesized PBNPs is characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and cyclic voltammetry. The PBNPs displays both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis having potentiality for H2O2 sensing generated through glucose oxidase catalyzed oxidation of glucose. The Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) and the maximal reaction velocity (Vmax) for H2O2 analysis are found to be 0.49 mM and 6.03 × 10−7 M s−1 justifying the use of nanomaterial as perfect peroxidase replacement. The sensitivity and detection limit of H2O2 analysis is found to the order of 156.5 μA mM−1 cm−2 and 50 nM respectively.