ELECTROCATALYSIS, vol.14, no.4, pp.636-647, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
In the development of ultrasensitive and selective sensors for heavy metal ions, the fabrication of titania-modified carbon paste electrodes with electrochemical sensing capabilities has received considerable attention. In this study, we investigated the facile preparation of the titania-modified carbon paste electrode and the determination of trace amounts of hazardous Hg(II), Cu(II), and Pb(II) ions by applying the square wave anodic stripping voltammetry method. The titania nanoparticles were characterized using various techniques such as size analyzer, XRD, and FTIR to determine their chemical properties. The experimental findings demonstrated that the titania nanoparticles were uniformly distributed in the graphite used to construct the modified electrode and had an average particle size of 85 nm in crystalline anatase form. Compared with the measurement results, the prepared sensor exhibited excellent sensing performance against Hg(II), Cu(II), and Pb(II) ions with a low detection limit of 15.26, 0.56, and 1.65 nM, respectively. In ternary solutions, their simultaneous determinations showed that the electrode is more sensitive to Hg(II) and Pb(II) ions, with detection limits of 8.32 and 0.25 nM, respectively. Consequently, the experimental results showed that the titania-modified carbon paste electrode is a promising sensor for the determination of hazardous Hg(II), Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions in sensor applications.