Hydrophobic interface controlled electrochemical sensing of nitrite based on one step synthesis of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite

•Electrosensing of nitrite is performed under control of hydrophobic force.•Zero-current method is used to study electrochemical behavior of electrode.•GO/POSS modified sensor exhibits perfect performance.

In this paper, we report a novel hydrophobic interface controlled electrochemical sensing of nitrite based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane/ reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite (POSS/rGO). The POSS/rGO is prepared by one step hydrothermal synthesis method, and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Zeta-potential measurement analyzer, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and zero current potential method respectively. Then the POSS/rGO composite is used to fabricate electrochemical sensor for nitrite detection. According to experimental results, it is found that under control of hydrophobic force, the current peak will be shifted to lower potential (0.72 V) and the possible reason has been analyzed in manuscript. In addition, the POSS/rGO based sensor also has wide linear range (0.5 μM to 120 mM), low detection limit (0.08 μM) and good selectivity. In a word, the hydrophobic force controlled detection in this paper will provide a new platform for electrochemical sensing.

Graphical abstractThe hydrophobic interface will be formed when GO/POSS modified electrode is immersed in nitrite solution, and the thickness of double layer between modified electrode and nitrite solution will be changed which makes the electrochemical oxidation of nitrite easier.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide