Decoration of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with metal nanoparticles in supercritical carbon dioxide medium as a novel approach for the modification of screen-printed electrodes

Abstract

A supercritical carbon dioxide medium was used for the decoration of functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with metallic nanoparticles. This procedure allowed the rapid and simple decoration of carbon nanotubes with the selected metallic nanoparticles. The prepared nanomaterials were used to modify screen-printed electrodes, improving their electrochemical properties and allowing to obtain a wide range of working electrodes based on carbon nanotubes. These electrodes were applied to the amperometric determination of vitamin B6 in food and pharmaceutical samples as an example of the analytical potentiality of the electrodes thus prepared. Using Ru-nanoparticles-MWCNTs as the working electrode, a linear dynamic range between 2.6×10^-6 and 2×10^-4molL^-1 and a limit of detection of 0.8×10^-6molL^-1 were obtained. These parameters represented a minimum 3-fold increase in sensitivity compared to the use of bare MWCNTs or other carbon-based working electrodes.

Keywords: Analytical applications; Carbon nanotubes decoration; Metal nanoparticles; Screen-printed electrodes; Supercritical carbon dioxide.