Development of g-C3N4/Cu-DTO MOF nanocomposite based electrochemical sensor towards sensitive determination of an endocrine disruptor BPSIP

Abstract

In the present study, we successfully synthesized graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and functionalized with copper coordinated dithiooxamide metal organic framework (Cu-DTO MOF) to form g-C3N4/Cu-DTO MOF nanocomposite. The synthesized g-C3N4 and g-C3N4/Cu-DTO MOF nanocomposite were thoroughly characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The TEM analysis of g-C3N4/Cu-DTO MOF composite material shows the successful immobilization of Cu-DTO MOF particles on the platform of g-C3N4 flakes. The electrochemical sensing performance of g-C3N4 and g-C3N4/Cu-DTO MOF nanocomposite modified electrodes were compared through sensitive determination of an endocrine disruptor i.e., 4-(4-isopropoxy-benzenesulfonyl)-phenol (BPSIP) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques. The detection limit was estimated to be 0.02 µM and sensitivity to be 0.5675 µAµM-1cm−2 for the proposed g-C3N4/Cu-DTO MOF nanocomposite based BPSIP sensor through DPV that are better as compared to g-C3N4 based sensor. Therefore, it was found that the nanocomposite based sensor has better sensing ability and was successfully applied for the determination of BPSIP in river water sample. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.