Carbon sphere-enabled interfacial engineering of ultrafine CeO2 for electrochemical detection of metol.

Abstract

Metol is widely used in photographic and dyeing processes, and its release into water raises concerns for environmental monitoring. In this work, ultrafine CeO2 nanoparticles were immobilized on carbon spheres to construct a conductive sensing interface for electrochemical detection of metol. The carbon spheres help maintain CeO2 dispersion and facilitate interfacial electron transfer, resulting in an enhanced oxidation response toward metol. Under optimized conditions, the CSs@CeO2 GCE showed a linear response from 0.1 to 40 µM, with a sensitivity of 63.65 µA µM-1 cm-2 in the low-concentration range and a detection limit of 0.028 µM. The electrode also showed good repeatability, reproducibility, selectivity, and short-term storage stability. For tap water and two lake water samples, recoveries ranged from 97.0% to 107.8%, demonstrating acceptable accuracy in real sample analysis. These results show that the carbon-supported CeO2 interface provides a practical platform for electrochemical determination of metol in environmental water.

Abstract as supplied by the indexing source. © the authors / publisher.