Facile synthesis of TiO-functionalized graphene nanosheet-supported Ag catalyst and its electrochemical oxidation of nitrite.

A new sandwich structure nanocomposite of Ag nanoparticles supported on TiO-functionalized graphene nanosheet was synthesized, involving a simple chemical reduction of GO using TiCl as reducing agent and the in situ formation of TiO as linker between r-GO and Ag. Based on the Ag/TiO/r-GO hybrid material, a novel electrochemical sensor for the determination of nitrite was constructed. The morphology and composition of the nanocomposite were characterized by transmission electron microscope and UV-vis absorption spectra. Electrochemical investigation indicated that Ag/TiO/r-GO modified electrode exhibited excellent electrocatalytic performance for the oxidation of nitrite. The sensor showed a wide linear range from 1.0 µM to 1.1 mM, with the detection limit of 0.4 µM, the sensitivity of 112.0 μA mM cm. Additionally, the proposed method was successfully applied to the detection of nitrite in water samples with obtained satisfactory results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]