An efficient chemical sensor based on CeO₂ nanoparticles for the detection of acetylacetone chemical

Facile, economic, template free and low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis of CeO₂ nanoparticles was carried out in this research article. As-synthesized CeO₂ nanoparticles were characterized through different techniques including FESEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR, UV–visible spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS analysis. XRD diffraction peaks confirmed the cubic fluorite structure for CeO₂ nanoparticle. Highly agglomerated nanostructures with an average particle diameter of 15 ± 2 nm were observed from FESEM and TEM analyses. A single defined absorbance at 302 nm corresponding to the bandgap energy of 4.11 eV was recorded from the UV–visible spectrum. Vibrational and scattering properties as analyzed from FTIR and Raman spectra confirmed the formation of CeO₂ nanoparticle. The CeO₂ nanoparticles were immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode which showed excellent electrocatalytic activity in 0.1 M PBS with pH 7.4 for acetylacetone. The sensitivity, LOD and regression coefficient (R²) were respectively, 262 mA·mM⁻¹ cm⁻¹, 11.6 mM and 0.87339 for the fabricated chemical sensor. The study conducted herein confirms that CeO₂ nanoparticles are promising candidates for electro-analytical sensing applications.