APS-ENS~(Pb): Adapted Porous Silicon Based Electrochemical Nano-Sensor for Lead Detection

摘要

An electrochemical sensor is a fast and selective device, measures the electric current of working electrodes, which estimate the concentration of chemical/biological species without doing any damage to the host. The porous silicon (PS) has been used as a transducer for the development of electrochemical nanosensor for the detection of Lead (Pb~(+2)), in aqueous medium. Notably, PS consists inescapable properties, i.e., physical stability, increased gap between its valance and conduction band, ease of availability, fabrication, and designing compatibility. These qualities make PS more usable in the field of electronic and micromachining technology. Nowadays, PS revolutionized the biomedical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food quality control systems. In this study, the nanoporous silicon is characterized by Photoluminescence spectroscopy, followed by the verification of absorbance peak shifting, and morphological alterations in used silicon surface by Raman spectroscopy and SEM respectively. Significantly, Self-assembled monolayer, i.e., 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) has been used to enhance the coupling probability with Pb~(+2), previously it was non-existent in the field of electrochemical nanosensor development. The adapted silicon is morphologically characterized and compositional supplementary is examined by AFM and FTIR respectively. Furthermore, the cyclic voltammetry is used to conform the Pb~(+2) coupling with APTES on the PS surface. Thus, by using 0.785 cm~2 sensing area of PS, 0.01-10 μg/ml Pb~(+2) has been detected in water sample. Our finding evinces that the APS-ENS~(Pb) may be considered as a robust solution for the detection of heavy trace metals in aquatic medium, if the inherent biophysical and chemical properties of material should be scrutinized.