Influence of cations in MFe2O4 (M: Fe, Zn, Ni, Sn) ferrite nanoparticles on the electrocatalytic activity for application in hydrogen peroxide sensor

Abstract

Hydrothermally prepared MFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> (M: Fe, Zn, Ni and Sn) nanoparticles have been characterized by XRD, SEM and BET. The ferrite nanoparticles have been tested for their electrocatalytic activity and application towards the reduction and sensing of hydrogen peroxide using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques. ZnFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> and SnFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> reveal superior H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf> sensing performance than Fe<inf>3</inf>O<inf>4</inf> and NiFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf>, which can be attributed to the lower redox potential of Sn2+/Sn4+ couple, lower charge-transfer resistance and higher specific surface area. ZnFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> and SnFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> have a sensitivity of 4.411 and 3.915 ?AmM-1 ?g-1, respectively, which is greater than that of Fe<inf>3</inf>O<inf>4</inf> (0.434 ?AmM-1 ?g-1) and NiFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> (0.644 ?AmM-1 ?g-1). SnFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> has the lowest limit of detection (2.6 (M) with good selectivity towards H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf> in the presence of other interference agents. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd.