Fabrication of Novel Electrodes from Graphene oxide, Cerium oxide Nanoparticles, Acetylene black and their Composites

Abstract

In this study, novel electrodes were fabricated from graphene oxide, acetylene black and cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoparticles.  Graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized using Hummers method, cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanoparticle was synthesized using precipitation method.  Acetylene black electrode (ABPE) was also prepared from acetylene black and solid paraffin. CeO₂ nanoparticles was dispersed into GO and a homogeneous CeO₂-GO nanocomposite suspension was obtained by ultrasonic sonication. The prepared CeO_2-GO nanocomposite was composited on the prepared ABPE to form CeO₂-GO/ABPE. The prepared electrode was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The electrochemical studies were conducted by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a solution containing potassium ferrocyanide and potassium chloride as the supporting electrolyte. Specifically, for the bare ABPE, the anodic peak potential was -0.1253 V, cathodic peak potential was 0.4245 V, anodic peak current was 3.8407E-05 A/cm², and cathodic peak current was 4.2695E-05 A/cm². The CeO₂-GO/ABPE electrode revealed anodic peak potential of 0.37628 V. The characterization results suggest the suitability of the electrodes to be potential candidates for the detection of heavy metals.