Template-assisted preparation of Au nanowires and their application in nitrite ions sensing

•a novel method for synthesizing Au nanowires was developed using Te nanowires as sacrificial templates.•Au nanowire-modified electrodes are selected as electrode materials for detecting nitrite ion. The result demonstrate that the fabricated nitrite ion sensor exhibits excellent performance, including high sensitivity, a good linear relationship limit, a low detection limit, good reproducibility and long-term stability.•The proposed sensor was successfully utilized to detect nitrite ion in tap water and pickled food. Satisfactory results were obtained.

Au nanowires synthesized via a template-assisted method using Te nanowires as templates are selected as electrode materials for detecting nitrite ions. The result is verified through a series of electrochemical measurements to demonstrate that Au nanowire-modified electrodes exhibit high catalytic activity for nitrite ions. Au nanowire-modified electrodes with a loading of 0.006 μg/mm2 achieve a relatively high catalytic current oxidation with a potential of + 0.83 V. The proposed sensor exhibits a rapid response to nitrite ions (less than 5 s), and the oxidation current shows a linear relationship (R = 0.9982) with the nitrite ions concentration ranging from 1 μM to 0.97 mM, at a detection limit of 0.2 μM (S/N = 3). The proposed sensor also demonstrates high sensitivity and excellent selectivity. This study emphasizes on the practicality of the proposed sensor in the measurement of nitrite ions in tap water and pickled food.

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