New application for TiO₂ P25 photocatalyst: A case study of photoelectrochemical sensing of nitrite ions

Developing photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensors based on photocatalytic materials has recently attracted great interest as an emerging technology for environmental monitoring. TiO₂ P25 is a well-known highly active photocatalyst, cheap, and produced commercially on a large scale. In the current work, a practical and durable TiO₂-based PEC sensor has been fabricated by immobilizing TiO₂ P25 nanoparticles at disposable screen-printed carbon substrates using drop-casting method. The fabricated PEC sensor has been applied for the anodic-detection and determination of nitrite (NO₂^-) ions under UV(A) light (LED, 365 nm) using chronoamperometry (CA) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Linear calibration curves were obtained between the photocurrent responses and the concentrations of NO₂^- ions in the ranges of 0.1-5.0 and 0.5-10 mg L^-1 for CA and DPV, respectively. Surprisingly, the detection limits (sensitivities) of the fabricated sensor towards NO₂^- ions under light were enhanced by a factor of 4.75 (4.1) and 8.3 (37.4) for CA and DPV, respectively, in comparsion with those measured in the dark. It is found that the photo-excitation of TiO₂ facilitates the photooxidation of NO₂^- ions via the photo-generated holes whereas the photogenerated electrons contribute to the enhanced photocurrent and consequently the enhanced detection limit and sensitivity. The fabricated TiO₂-based PEC sensor exhibits a good stability, durability, and satisfying selectivity for NO₂^- ions determination. These results indicate that the TiO₂-based PEC sensor fabricated by utilizing cheap and commercially available components has great potential for being transferred from lab-to-factory.