Preparation of Cu2O/CNTs composite and its application as sensing platform for detecting nitrite in water environment

A novel electrochemical sensing platform based on Cu2O/CNTs composite, which was synthesized by combining the modified CNTs with the in-situ reduced Cu2O spheres via hydrothermal method, was constructed and used to sensitively and selectively detect nitrite ions. Many linear-shaped CNTs were well dispersed and twining around Cu2O spheres because of the synergistic effect between CNTs and Cu2O spheres, the as-prepared Cu2O/CNTs composite exhibits high electrocatalytic activity and specific surface area. Subsequently, the fabricated Cu2O/CNTs composite-based electrochemical sensor shows high sensitivity for detecting nitrite with an ultra-low detection limit of 0.018 nM within a wide linear concentration range (from 0.1 nM to 1 mM) of nitrite ions. The constructed sensor also shows profitable anti-interference ability, good reproducibility, stability, and good applicability. All of these results illustrate that the as-prepared electrochemical sensor has wide potential application in the fields of water determination.