Silver nanoparticle assemblies supported on glassy-carbon electrodes for the electro-analytical detection of hydrogen...

Electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide using an edge-plane pyrolytic-graphite electrode (EPPG), a glassy carbon (GC) electrode, and a silver nanoparticle-modified GC electrode is reported. It is shown, in phosphate buffer (0.05 mol L(-1), pH 7.4), that hydrogen peroxide cannot be detected directly on either the EPPG or GC electrodes. However, reduction can be facilitated by modification of the glassy-carbon surface with nanosized silver assemblies. The optimum conditions for modification of the GC electrode with silver nanoparticles were found to be deposition for 1 min at -0.5 V vs. Ag from 5 mmol L(-1) AgNO3/0.1 mol L(-1) TBAP/MeCN, followed by stripping for 2 min at +0.5 V vs. Ag in the same solution. A wave, due to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide on the silver nanoparticles is observed at -0.68 V vs. SCE. The limit of detection for this modified nanosilver electrode was 2.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) for hydrogen peroxide in phosphate buffer (0.05 mol L(-1), pH 7.4) with a sensitivity which is five times higher than that observed at a silver macro-electrode. Also observed is a shoulder on the voltammetric wave corresponding to the reduction of oxygen, which is produced by silver-catalysed chemical decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen then oxygen reduction at the surface of the glassy-carbon electrode.