Hydrothermal synthesis of MnO2 nanorods for efficient electrochemical detection of environmental anthropogenic pollutants and nitrobenzene

Glassy carbon (GC) electrodes are fabricated with nanoscale manganese dioxide (MnO2) rods for efficient detection of the toxic anthropogenic pollutant and nitrobenzene (NB) in real water. The MnO2 nanorods were prepared using a hydrothermal method. Its structure and morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). In this study, MnO2 nanorods were used to modify a glassy carbon (MnO2/GCE) electrode surface. The electrode was optimized and developed as an electrochemical detector under different experimental conditions to obtain good sensitivity and selectivity. It has shown excellent electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of NB to phenylhydroxylamine as a product. The calibration plots from the observed data of the differential pulse voltametric technique between the linear range of 0.03 µM–2 µM with a detection limit of 0.025 μM displayed the high stability and reproducibility as well as the detection of NB in the real water sample.