Speaker
Description
Emerging Contaminants (ECs) are considered anthropogenic impact indicators, whose detection and quantification contribute to understanding their occurrence, distribution, and potential toxicity, allowing for effective mitigation strategies and environmental management. Electrochemical sensors based on screen-printed electrodes (SPE) have gained significant attention due to their advantages such as fast response, simplicity, sensitivity, cost-effectiveness and tuneability. In this sense, progress in nanomaterials preparation and modification strategies of SPEs leads to improved sensitivity and specificity, making these systems suitable for voltammetric detecting a wide range of ECs.
Other electrochemical methods to screen analytes and processes are Spectroelectrochemical (SEC) measurements in the UV-vis region. These are based on the changes that occur in the absorption spectrum of a liquid sample when an electrochemical process consumes or generates an absorbing species at the working electrode. In normal reflection mode, these measurements are less sensitive than those obtained in parallel configuration. This is because the monitored sample volume contains a much smaller diffusion layer created by the electrochemical processes, i.e. the region where the relevant optical changes take place. On the other hand, the standard configuration is more robust and reproducible and, currently, it is the only one commercially available.
In some cases, parameters such as repeatability, reproducibility and sensitivity seemed to be improved by the incorporation of magnetic cobalt ferrite nanoparticles into the measuring solution, acting as diffusion enhancers at the nanometric range.
This work describes a strategy to improve normal measurements in voltammetric and SEC analysis, The strategy is based on the addition of magnetic cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (MNPs) The induced movement of the MNPs (nano-enabled stirring) enhances the transport of matter to and from the electrode, producing a rapid renewal of the diffusion layer and, therefore, an increase in current signal.
