Electrocatalytic determination of nitrite based on straw cellulose/molybdenum sulfide nanocomposite

Cellulose is the most abundant, renewable, biodegradable natural polymer resource on earth, which can be a good substrate for catalysis. In this work, straw cellulose has been oxidized through 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation, and then a TEMPO oxidized straw cellulose/molybdenum sulfide (TOSC-MoS2) composite has been synthesized via a hydrothermal method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirm that TOSC and MoS2 have successfully composited. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show the TOSC as a carbon nanotube-like structure and edged MoS2 grows on the TOSC substrate. The TOSC-MoS2 modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) is used as a simple and non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor. Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) result shows TOSC-MoS2 has excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of nitrite. The amperometric response result indicates the TOSC-MoS2 modified GCE can be used to determine nitrite concentration in wide linear ranges of 6.0–3140 and 3140–4200 µM with a detection limit of 2.0 µM. The proposed sensor has good anti-interference property. Real sample analysis and the electrocatalytic mechanism have also been presented.