Direct Current Plasma-Sputtered Gold Nanoparticles/Carbon Nanosheets Nanohybrid Structures for Electrochemical Sensors

Amine Achour, M Islam, F Moulai, Emile Haye, I Ahmad, K Saeed, S Parvez, Jean-François Colomer, Jean-Jacques Pireaux

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Multifunctional nanohybrid materials such as gold (Au) nanoparticles attached to the carbon nanostructures can be incorporated into devices for in vivo/in vitro detection of various analytes, catalysis and imaging purposes. In this work, vertically aligned carbon nanosheets (CNS) were grown over silicon substrate, followed by direct current plasma-sputtered deposition of Au for different times. The Au-CNS hybrid nanostructures so produced were characterized for surface and cross-sectional morphologies, phase composition and surface chemistry by means of scanning electron microscope, x-ray diffraction and x-ray photoelectron spectroscope techniques. The Au-CNS exhibit vertically aligned, dendritic wall morphology with different degrees of dispersion on the substrate. The electrochemical (EC) behavior of the different Au-CNS samples was investigated for application as electrochemical transductors. The EC activity was investigated by both cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the presence of [Fe(CN) 6] 3−/4−. The variations in active surface area and roughness of different electrodes were evaluated in order to explore application of such Au-NS in the EC biosensors operating via the direct electron transfer process. The EC results show remarkable properties such as high diffusion coefficient (D o), low peak-to-peak separation value (ΔE) for the oxidation and reduction processes of the [Fe(CN) 6] 3−/4− redox system and low surface resistivity. Such Au-CNS nanohybrid structures are promising for use in photoelectrochemical cells, sensing devices, catalysis, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and biotechnology applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7582-7591
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Materials Engineering and Performance
Volume28
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019

Keywords

  • carbon nanosheets
  • dendritic morphology
  • electrochemical sensing
  • gold nanostructures

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