Novel SnO2@ZIF-8/gC3N4 nanohybrids for excellent electrochemical performance towards sensing of p-nitrophenol.

Herein, a novel synthetic strategy has been proposed to prepare engineered SnO2@ZIF-8/gC3N4 nanohybrids for electrochemical sensing of p-nitrophenol (p-NP). The electrochemical properties were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The developed nanohybrid sensor displayed an excellent electrochemical performance towards sensing of p-NP with a detection limit of 0.565 μM. The sensitivity of the prepared nanohybrid was found to be 2.63 μAcm-2μM-1. Moreover, the newly fabricated sensor exhibited remarkable selectivity (over tenfold excess) in the presence of common interferents. The simultaneous detection of isomers of nitrophenol is difficult using the developed sensor. However, other common interferents, such as phenol and aminophenol have negligible effects on the sensitivity of SnO2@ZIF-8/gC3N4 towards the detection of p-nitrophenol. Further, the newly developed sensor showed consistency of sensing response up to 30 days. Thus, implementation of SnO2@ZIF-8/gC3N4 nanohybrids as a p-NP electrochemical sensor offers the advantages of simplicity, selectivity, and stability.