Nanocomposites with ZrO₂@S-Doped g-C₃N₄ as an Enhanced Binder-Free Sensor: Synthesis and Characterization

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Environmental Science
• Electrochemistry

Background:

• Environmental pollutants pose significant risks to ecosystems and human health.
• Developing efficient and sensitive detection methods for pollutants like 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) is crucial.
• Electrocatalyst materials offer promising solutions for pollutant detection and remediation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize novel semiconductor nanocomposites (NCs) for environmental pollutant detection.
• To investigate the synergistic effects of ZrO₂ and S-doped g-C₃N₄ for enhanced electrocatalytic activity.
• To develop a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for 4-NP detection in aqueous solutions.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of ZrO₂@S-doped g-C₃N₄ semiconductor nanocomposites.
• Characterization using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
• Electrochemical analysis including Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), Mott-Schottky (M-S) measurements, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV).

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis and visualization of monoclinic ZrO₂ integrated with S-doped g-C₃N₄.
• Demonstrated enhanced electron transfer and conductivity in fluorine tin-oxide electrodes (FTOEs) modified with ZrO₂@S-doped g-C₃N₄ NCs.
• Achieved sensitive detection of 4-NP with a linear range of 10–100 μM and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 6.65 μM at pH 5.

Conclusions:

• The synergistic interaction between ZrO₂ and S-doped g-C₃N₄ creates an active NC interface with superior electrochemical sensor behavior.
• The developed ZrO₂@S-doped g-C₃N₄ (20%)/FTOE platform exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity and sensitivity for 4-NP detection.
• These NCs show significant potential for environmental monitoring and remediation applications.