Synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4/Polythiophene hybrid nanocomposites for electroanalytical application

Abstract

In the present work, Fe3O4/Polythiophene (Fe3O4/PT) hybrid nanocomposite was prepared by oxidative polymerization of thiophene over oleic acid-capped Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The morphology, structure, and composition of the nanocomposite were characterized by transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry. The zero coercivity and reversible hysteresis behavior indicated the superparamagnetic nature of Fe3O4/PT nanocomposite at room temperature. The cyclic voltammetry and amperometry results showed that Fe3O4/PT nanocomposites have potential application in amperometic sensing of hydrogen peroxide. The sensitivity of the Fe3O4/PT NPs modified electrode towards hydrogen peroxide sensing was 3.1 μA mM−1 and the limit of detection was 5 μM. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.