Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Sulfide Nanostructures for Sensing Applications

Abstract

Metal sulfide nanoparticles have been suggested in many applications such as sensing, medical and electronic devices because of their outstanding semiconductor properties. Doping with other materials can further enhance the properties by influencing bandgap, surface area to volume ratio, and higher electron-hole generation rate. This study was aimed to extensively evaluate the electrochemical sensing of chloramphenicol (an important broad-spectrum antibiotic for bacterial infections) using different metal sulfide and doped metal sulfide nanomaterials. Metal sulfide i.e. cadmium sulfide, zinc sulfide, and lead sulfide and doped materials with iron and cobalt of these sulfides have been synthesized using the hydrothermal method. The as-synthesized nanomaterials have been elaborately characterized analytically using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier Infrared spectroscopy, UV Visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and surface area analyzer. These materials have then been subjected to the electrochemical detection of chloramphenicol. Among the three metal sulfides, zinc sulfide exhibited the lowest limit of detection (0.048 μM) and limit of quantification (0.148 μM). Considering doping elements i.e. iron and cobalt, Iron doped zinc sulfide has shown an excellent limit of detection, 0.039 μM, the limit of quantification 0.12 μM and 100% specificity as compared to co-interfering structural and functional analogs. Fe doped ZnS electrode efficiently degradesthe chloramphenicol (CAP) pollutant owing to higher anodic oxidation, excellent removal efficiency, and safety.