Efficient BiVO4 photoanode decorated with Ti3C2TX MXene for enhanced photoelectrochemical sensing of Hg(II) ion

Qianqian Jiang; Hengjia Wang; Xiaoqian Wei; Yu Wu; Wenling Gu; Liuyong Hu; Chengzhou Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2020.04.049

Efficient BiVO₄ photoanode decorated with Ti₃C₂T_X MXene for enhanced photoelectrochemical sensing of Hg(II) ion

Anal Chim Acta. 2020 Jul 4:1119:11-17. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2020.04.049. Epub 2020 Apr 23.

Authors

Qianqian Jiang¹, Hengjia Wang¹, Xiaoqian Wei¹, Yu Wu¹, Wenling Gu², Liuyong Hu³, Chengzhou Zhu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center for Intelligent Biosensing Technology and Health, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center for Intelligent Biosensing Technology and Health, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, PR China. Electronic address: wlgu@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, PR China. Electronic address: huly@wit.edu.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Pesticide and Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center for Intelligent Biosensing Technology and Health, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, PR China. Electronic address: czzhu@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 32439049
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2020.04.049

Abstract

A highly sensitive photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing platform was constructed for Hg²⁺ determination based on the Schottky heterojunction between an emerging 2D material Ti₃C₂T_X MXene and a promising semiconductor material BiVO₄. Through simply spin-coating the single-layer Ti₃C₂T_X onto the surface of BiVO₄ film, the modified electrode exhibited significantly enhanced PEC activity. However, the boost in photocurrent could be noticeably suppressed due to the consumption of hole-scavenging agents (reduced glutathione) by the added Hg²⁺. Owing to the selective decrease in the photocurrent with the addition of Hg²⁺, the PEC sensor based on BiVO₄/Ti₃C₂T_X displayed a wide linear range from 1 pM to 2 nM with the limit of detection down to 1 pM. Moreover, the PEC sensor also exhibited satisfactory accuracy and repeatability in practical sample water, the Yangtze River water, demonstrating the great potential for monitoring heavy metal ions in natural water resources.

Keywords: BiVO(4)/Ti(3)C(2)T(X) sensor; Hg(2+) detection; Photoelectrochemical sensors; Schottky heterojunction.