Electrochemical reduction of nickel selenide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites: Highly sensitive detection of 4-nitrophenol

Developing a facile and sensitive electrochemical sensor to monitor organic pollutants in the water environment is particularly indispensable. Herein, we established a green synthetic strategy that graphene oxide and nickel selenide have been modified successively onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) glass by two-step electrochemical reduction to determine 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The Ni3Se4/rGO composite was characterized in detail by some techniques including XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM and EDX to analyse morphology features, structural parameters and chemical properties. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were applied to explore the electrochemical behavior of Ni3Se4/rGO composite. As a consequence, Ni3Se4/rGO/ITO electrode as a sensing platform for 4-NP detection exhibits favorable properties, the obtained reduction peak current is proportional to the concentrations of 4-NP in the range of 0.05 mu M to 5.0 mu M and 5.0 mu M to 200 mu M, and the detection limit is 17.1 nM (S/N = 3). Moreover, the prepared electrochemical sensor displays excellent selectivity, remarkable reproducibility and good stability, and has acceptable accuracy when applied to the monitoring of 4-NP in actual water samples.