Pd/ZnO/Ni photoelectrochemical ethanol sensor

In this paper, by using hexagonal prism nanometer zinc oxide absorbing UV-light photoinduced charge separation excitation electrode. The separation of excitation source and detection source reduces the interference of background noise and effectively improves the sensitivity of the electrode. At the same time, the surface of the electrode was modified by metal particles to increase the surface area of the electrode, improve the adsorption capacity of the electrode to ethanol, and inhibit electron hole recombination improves the sensitivity of the electrode. We have engineered a kind of Pd/ZnO/Ni photochemical ethanol electrode, which by hydrothermal method using nickel foam as the base to grow Hexagonal prism nanometer zinc oxide and by electrochemical deposition on the surface of ZnO/Ni electrode were deposited palladium particles. The electrode has been verified by the experiment can detect 0.02 μM the change of ethanol. The electrode surface morphology of the electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), and the performance of the electrode was tested by Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Chronoamperometry (CA). The test results showed that the electrode had favorable sensitivity and linear relationship to ethanol. Compared with traditional electrochemical sensors, the sensitivity of Pd/ZnO/Ni has been improved greatly. It provides an effective solution to improve the detection accuracy of ethanol sensor in industrial and medicine and fruit and vegetable storage.