A straightforward ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of zinc sulfide for supersensitive detection of carcinogenic nitrite ions in water samples

The principle objective of the present study is to explore a rapid, low-cost, ultrasound assisted one-step synthesize of zinc sulfide (ZnS) microstructures; and employee its distinct physiochemical attributes to fabricate an electrochemical sensor. The surface physiology of the prepared ZnS were systematically analyzed using various spectroscopic techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The proposed ultrasonic energy assisted one-step synthesis protocol yields homogeneously distributed ZnS microflakes courtesy of acoustic cavitation under ultrasonic environment. Further, the prepared ZnS microflakes was employed as an effective electrocatalyst for the fabrication of nitrite sensor. ZnS modified electrode revealed excellent electrocatalytic activity, and a decent analytical performance in the concentration range of 20 nM to 1.35 mM with a low detection limit of 8.5 nM towards nitrite detection, the assay performance of the proposed nitrite sensor was in line with that of the same reported earlier. Moreover, the sensor supplied high selectivity, and excellent stability. In practice, the ZnS microflakes based nitrite sensor was applied in rapid quantification of nitrite in water samples with good accuracy.