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Engineering >> 2023, Volume 27, Issue 8 doi: 10.1016/j.eng.2022.06.005

An AuNPs/Mesoporous NiO/Nickel Foam Nanocomposite as a Miniaturized Electrode for Heavy Metal Detection in Groundwater

a State Key Joint Laboratory of ESPC, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
b National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
c Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Photonic Devices and Sensing Systems for Internet of Things, Guangdong and Hong Kong Joint Research Centre for Optical Fiber Sensors, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
d College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China
e The Research Institute of Environmental Innovation (Suzhou), Tsinghua University, Suzhou 215000, China

Received: 2022-01-27 Revised: 2022-05-04 Accepted: 2022-06-14 Available online: 2022-07-05

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Abstract

Heavy metals, notably Pb2+ and Cu2+, are some of the most persistent contaminants found in groundwater. Frequent monitoring of these metals, which relies on efficient, sensitive, cost-effective, and reliable methods, is a necessity. We present a nanocomposite-based miniaturized electrode for the concurrent measurement of Pb2+ and Cu2+ by exploiting the electroanalytical technique of square wave voltammetry. We also propose a facile in situ hydrothermal calcination method to directly grow binder-free mesoporous NiO on a three-dimensional nickel foam, which is then electrochemically seeded with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The meticulous design of a low-barrier Ohmic contact between mesoporous NiO and AuNPs facilitates target-mediated nanochannel-confined electron transfer within mesoporous NiO. As a result, the heavy metals Pb2+ (0.020 mg·L−1 detection limit, 2.0–16.0 mg·L−1 detection range) and Cu2+ (0.013 mg·L−1 detection limit, 0.4–12.8 mg·L−1 detection range) can be detected simultaneously with high precision. Furthermore, other heavy metal ions and common interfering ions found in groundwater showed negligible impacts on the electrode's performance, and the recovery rate of groundwater samples varied between 96.3% ± 2.1% and 109.4% ± 0.6%. The compactness, flexible shape, low power consumption, and ability to remotely operate our electrode pave the way for onsite detection of heavy metals in groundwater, thereby demonstrating the potential to revolutionize the field of environmental monitoring.

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