Low-potential sensitive H2O2 detection based on composite micro tubular Te adsorbed on platinum electrode

In this work a new original amperometric sensor for H2O2 detection based on a Pt electrode modified with Te-microtubes was developed. Te-microtubes, synthesized by the simple thermal evaporation of Te powder, have a tubular structure with a hexagonal cross-section and are open ended. Modified electrode was prepared by direct drop casting of the mixture of Te-microtubes dispersed in ethanol on Pt surface. The spectroscopic characterization of synthesized Te-microtubes and Pt/Te-microtubes modified electrodes was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-rays microanalysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover a complete electrochemical characterization of the new composite material Pt/Te-microtubes was performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and cronoamperometry (CA) in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) at pH 7. Electrochemical experiments showed that the presence of Te-microtubes on modified electrode was responsible for an increment of both cathodic and anodic currents in presence of H2O2 with respect to bare Pt. Specifically, data collected from amperometric experiments at −150 mV vs. SCE in batch and −200 mV vs. SCE in flow injection analysis (FIA) experiments show a remarkable increment of the cathodic current. The electrochemical performances of tested sensors make them suitable for the quantitative determination of H2O2 substrate both in batch and in FIA.