Electrochemical nanodevice based on praseodymium doped zinc oxide synthesized by hydrothermal method

A report on the development of an electrochemical nanodevice using praseodymium (Pr) doped ZnO nanomaterials is presented here. The doped nanomaterial was synthesized using hydrothermal method at 165 °C for 6 hours at two different doping levels. The synthesized powder was characterized by FESEM, XRD, and FTIR. Further, synthesized nanomaterial was used as a matrix for fabrication of glucose electrochemical sensor. The nanodevice was fabricated by printing thick films of synthesized nanomaterial on gold-plated working electrode by screen printing method. The fabricated electrochemical nanodevice was tested for glucose concentration from 0 to 200 mg/dl with and without enzyme. A detectable change in the redox peak currents are noticed with glucose while electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies indicated that the charge transfer resistance increased with increasing glucose concentration, as the increased diameter of Nyquist plot is observed. Scan rate studies indicated the process as surface-controlled process providing fast electron transfer. It is also observed that doping at 1:1 level resulted in relative higher sensitivity than 5:1 ratio.