Development of Graphene/CdSe Quantum Dots‐Co Phthalocyanine Nanocomposite for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Nanocomposites containing CdSe quantum dots, tetra(4‐(4,6‐diaminopyrimidin‐2‐ylthio) phthalocyaninatocobalt(II)) (CoPyPc) and reduced graphene nanosheets (rGNS) were devoloped and used for the modification of a glassy carbon electrode. Characterization of the nanocomposites was done by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used for electrochemical characterization of the prepared nanocomposite for oxygen reduction reaction. The oxygen reduction activity for rGNS/CdSe‐CoPyPc nanocomposite was found to be superior over the individual nanomaterials in this study. The activity of the nanocomposite towards oxygen reduction was also tested for tolerance to methanol crossover effect using chronoamperometry (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies.     

Optimization of Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV) Parameters by Design of Experiment (DoE) Methodologies for the Determination of Mifepristone at Glassy Carbon Electrode (GCE)

In the present study, an electroanalytical method that permits the optimization of factors affecting SWV for sensitive detection of mifepristone at glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using response surface methodology (RSM) with desirability function (DF) is presented. Factors selected for optimization after screening using full factorial design were frequency (X₁), amplitude (X₂), and pH (X₃). The central composite design as a response surface methodology with desirability function (DF) was applied for obtaining the optimum level. The optimum conditions were obtained as follows: Frequency (X₁=50 Hz), amplitude (X₂=33.4 mV), and pH (X₃=9.4), with an overall desirability function of 0.97. Subsequently, confirmatory experiments were performed in triplicates to validate the optimum conditions. The results obtained were satisfactory and agreed well with less only 11.9 % deviation from the values predicted by the model. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 0.54 and 1.80 ppm, respectively. The proposed method was applied for a quantitative determination of mifepristone in spiked tap water samples. The recovery tests showed that the detection of mifepristone at GC could be evaluated on environmental samples.     

Electrode modification using nanocomposites of electropolymerised cobalt phthalocyanines supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - A polymer of tetra(4)-(4,6-diaminopyrimidin-2-ylthio) phthalocyaninatocobalt(II) (CoPyPc) has been deposited over a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)...     

Iodine‐Doped Cobalt Phthalocyanine Supported on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes for Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Reduction Reaction

4‐(4,6‐Diaminopyrimidin‐2‐ylthio) phthalocyaninatocobalt(II) (CoPyPc) was iodine doped, and its electrocatalytic properties explored. Physical characterization techniques such as UV‐vis, X‐ray photoelectron, electron paramagnetic resonance and infra‐red spectroscopy were used. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and rotating disk electrode were used for electrochemical characterization of electrodes modified with the prepared phthalocyanine and its nanocomposites. The electrocatalytic effect of a new iodine‐doped cobalt phthalocyanine derivative supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes was then investigated towards oxygen reduction reaction. The electrocatalytic activity of the iodine‐doped cobalt phthalocyanine was found to be superior in terms of current over the undoped phthalocyanine nanocomposite.     

Membrane assisted passive sampler for triazine compounds in water bodies--characterization of environmental conditions and field performance

This article reports the integration of the fiber optic-particle plasmon resonance (FO-PPR) biosensor with a microfluidic chip to reduce response time and improve detection limit. The microfluidic chip made of poly(methyl methacrylate) had a flow-channel of dimensions 4.0 cm × 900 μm × 900 μm. A partially unclad optical fiber with gold or silver nanoparticles on the core surface was placed within the flow-channel, where the volume of the flow space was about 14 μL. Results using sucrose solutions of various refractive indexes show that the refractive index resolution improves by 2.4-fold in the microfluidic system. The microfluidic chip is capable of delivering a precise amount of biological samples to the detection area without sample dilution. Several receptor/analyte pairs were chosen to examine the biosensing capability of the integrated platform: biotin/streptavidin, biotin/anti-biotin, DNP/anti-DNP, OVA/anti-OVA, and anti-MMP-3/MMP-3. Results show that the response time to achieve equilibrium can be shortened from several thousand seconds in a conventional liquid cell to several hundred seconds in a microfluidic flow-cell. In addition, the detection limit also improves by about one order of magnitude. Furthermore, the normalization by using the relative change of transmission response as the sensor output alleviate the demand on precise optical alignment, resulting in reasonably good chip-to-chip measurement reproducibility.