Facile solvothermal decomposition synthesis of single phase ZnBi38O60 nanobundles for sensitive detection of 4-nitrophenol

Abstract

We have developed the facile solvothermal decomposition route to fabricate a single phase zinc bismuthate (ZnBi₃₈O₆₀) binary composite nanostructure. Interestingly, the proposed technique provides a new pathway to synthesize similar multi compound oxide materials. The prepared ZnBi₃₈O₆₀ was characterized by different analytical techniques. Typical crystalline phase and chemical composition were confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectra. Unique nanobundle morphology of the ZnBi₃₈O₆₀ was confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). A glassy carbon electrode modified using ZnBi₃₈O₆₀ nanobundles as the electrocatalyst was used to qualitatively and quantitatively determine 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The modified electrode exhibits better sensitivity (1.024 μA μM⁻¹ cm⁻²) and limit of detection (LOD) 35 × 10⁻⁹ M. Thereby it can be concluded that ZnBi₃₈O₆₀ nanobundles could be another choice of electrocatalyst for 4-NP determination and can be extended to various nitro containing analytes.