Graphene-based electrochemical sensor for detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in seawater: the comparison of single-, few-, and multilayer graphene nanoribbons and graphite microparticles

• Main Authors: Goh, Madeline Shuhua, Pumera, Martin
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Nanostructured materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/95731; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/10025
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The detection of explosives in seawater is of great interest. We compared response single-, few-, and multilayer graphene nanoribbons and graphite microparticle-based electrodes toward the electrochemical reduction of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). We optimized parameters such as accumulation time, accumulation potential, and pH. We found that few-layer graphene exhibits about 20% enhanced signal for TNT after accumulation when compared to multilayer graphene nanoribbons. However, graphite microparticle-modified electrode provides higher sensitivity, and there was no significant difference in the performance of single-, few-, and multilayer graphene nanoribbons and graphite microparticles for the electrochemical detection of TNT. We established the limit of detection of TNT in untreated seawater at 1 μg/mL.