Fabrication of ferrocene functionalised ionic liquid/carbon nanotube nanocomposite modified carbon-ceramic electrode: application to the determination of hydrazine

A novel ionic liquid, 1-(ferrocenyl butyl)-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (Fc-IL), was synthesised. The nanocomposite of Fc-IL and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was constructed and used for surface modification of carbon-ceramic electrode. The modified electrode was applied to the determination of hydrazine. Operational parameters such as pH of the solution, ionic liquid volume and amount of carbon nanotubes, which affect the analytical performance of the modified electrode, were optimised. The linear range of the modified electrode toward hydrazine concentration was 0.96–106.10 μg L^–1 with a detection limit of 0.64 μg L^–1 (S/N = 3). The modified electrode displayed high repeatability, reproducibility, long-term life time and low response time (<3 s). The applicability of this method was further tested by analysing the hydrazine content in boiler-feed water samples containing different concentrations of hydrazine and the results were in good agreement with the spectrophotometry method.