Improved Electrochemical Hydrogen Peroxide Detection Using a Nickel(II) Phthalimide-Substituted Porphyrazine Combined with Various Carbon Nanomaterials

Abstract

A metal-free porphyrazine derivative with peripheral phthalimide substituents was metallated with a nickel(II) ion. The purity of the nickel macrocycle was confirmed using HPLC, and characterized by MS, UV–VIS, and 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D (1H–13C HSQC, 1H–13C HMBC, 1H–1H COSY) NMR techniques. The novel porphyrazine was combined with various carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes—single walled (SWCNTs) and multi-walled (MWCNTs), and electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (rGO), to create hybrid electroactive electrode materials. The carbon nanomaterials’ effect on the electrocatalytic properties of nickel(II) cations was compared. As a result, an extensive electrochemical characterization of the synthesized metallated porphyrazine derivative on various carbon nanostructures was carried out using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). An electrode modified with carbon nanomaterials GC/MWCNTs, GC/SWCNTs, or GC/rGO, respectively, was shown to have a lower overpotential than a bare glassy carbon electrode (GC), allowing for the measurement of hydrogen peroxide in neutral conditions (pH 7.4). It was shown that among the tested carbon nanomaterials, the modified electrode GC/MWCNTs/Pz3 exhibited the best electrocatalytic properties in the direction of hydrogen peroxide oxidation/reduction. The prepared sensor was determined to enable a linear response to H2O2 in concentrations ranging between 20–1200 µM with the detection limit of 18.57 µM and sensitivity of 14.18 µA mM−1 cm−2. As a result of this research, the sensors produced here may find use in biomedical and environmental applications.