Determination of Ascorbic Acid Based on a Platinum Nanoparticles Modified Au Electrode

A Platinum nanoparticles modified Au electrode has been successfully fabricated by using an in situ growth method. In this method, the Platinum nanoparticles could be grown on the Au electrode surface via the one-step immersion into the mixture of H2PtCl6 (analytical grade, 1g/L), NaBH4 (analytical grade) and polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 (PVP, analytical grade). A certain amount of PVP was added into the reaction system to prevent the coagulation of the Platinum nanoparticles, which obtained by the chemical redox reaction of H2PtCl6 and NaBH4. The structures and morphologies of the Platinum nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) . The direct electrochemical behavior of ascorbic acid in 0.3 mol/L NaCl medium at the Platinum nanoparticles modified electrode has been investigated in detail. Compared to a bare Au electrode, a substantial decrease in the overvoltage of the ascorbic acid was observed at the Platinum nanoparticles modified electrode with oxidation starting at ca. 0.20 V vs. SCE (saturated KCl). At an applied potential of 0.18V, this modified electrode produced high and reproducible sensitivity to ascorbic acid and linear responses were obtained over a concentration range from 0.600 to 3.267 μmol/L with a detection limit of 1.9 nmol/L(S/N=3). The fabrication method of this sensor, which has highly sensitive, low working potential, and fast amperometric sensing to ascorbic acid, is simple and without using complex equipment. In addition, the sensor has been successfully used to detect ascorbic acid in real sample, thus is promising for the future development of ascorbic acid sensors.