Silver chloride/ferricyanide-based quasi-reference electrode for potentiometric sensing applications

Processes' occurring at the Ag/AgCl/Cl-, ([Fe(CN)6]3-/4-) ions interface study results are presented. Conditions are selected for the mixed salts' precipitate formation on the silver surface. It has been shown that the potential of a silver screen-printed electrode (AgSPE) coated with amixed precipitate containing silver chloride/ferricyanide is stable in the presence of [Fe(CN)6]3-/4-. The electrode can serve as a quasi-reference electrode (QRE) in electrochemical measurements in media containing ions [Fe(CN)6]3-/4-. The electrode is formed during polarization of AgSPE (0.325 V vs. Ag/AgCl/KCl, 3.5M) in a solution containing chloride-and ferri/ferrocyanides ions. The results of the obtained QRE study by potentiometry, scanning electronmicroscopy and cyclic voltammetry are presented. The proposed QRE was used in a sensor system to evaluate the antioxidant activity (AOA) of solutions by hybrid potentiometricmethod (HPM). The results of AOA assessment of fruit juices and biofluids obtained using new QRE and commercial Ag/AgCl RE with separated spaces do not differ. © 2020 by the authors.Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 18-33-00215Funding: The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project № 18-33-00215

The effect of the antioxidant activity of plant extracts on the properties of gold nanoparticles

Synthesis of gold nanoparticles (phyto-AuNPs) with the use of leaf extracts (phytosynthesis) is based on the concept of Green Chemistry. The present study is conducted to discuss how antioxidant activity (AOA) of extracts from plant leaves impacts on the kinetics of phytosynthesis, the size of the formed nanoparticles, and the stability of their nanosuspensions. Results show that the formation rate of phyto-AuNPs suspensions accelerate due to the increase in the AOA of the extracts. Accompanying the use of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis-spectrophotometry and dynamic light scattering (DLS), it also has been found that higher AOA of the extracts leads to a decrease in the size of phyto-AuNPs, an increase in the fraction of small (d ≤ 5 nm), and a decrease in the fraction of large (d ≥ 31–50 nm) phyto-AuNPs, as well as an increase in the zeta potential in absolute value. Phyto-AuNPs suspensions synthesized with the use of extracts are more resistant to destabilizing electrolytes and ultrasound, as compared to suspensions synthesized using sodium citrate. Thus, the AOA of the extract is an important parameter for controlling phytosynthesis and predicting the properties of phyto-AuNPs. The proposed approach can be applied to the targeted selection of plant extract that will be used for synthesizing nanoparticles with desired properties. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 17-03-00679_АFunding: This research was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant number 17-03-00679_А

Electrochemical sensor based on a carbon veil modified by phytosynthesized gold nanoparticles for determination of ascorbic acid

An original voltammetric sensor (Au-gr/CVE) based on a carbon veil (CV) and phytosynthesized gold nanoparticles (Au-gr) was developed for ascorbic acid (AA) determination. Extract from strawberry leaves was used as source of antioxidants (reducers) for Au-gr phytosynthesis. The sensor was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electrochemical methods. Optimal parameters of AA determination were chosen. The sensor exhibits a linear response to AA in a wide concentration range (1 µM–5.75 mM) and a limit of detection of 0.05 µM. The developed sensor demonstrated a high intra-day repeatability of 1 µM AA response (RSD = 1.4%) and its stability during six weeks, selectivity of AA determination toward glucose, sucrose, fructose, citric, tartaric and malic acids. The proposed sensor based on Au-gr provides a higher sensitivity and a lower limit of AA detection in comparison with the sensor based on gold nanoparticles synthesized by the Turkevich method. The sensor was successfully applied for the determination of AA content in fruit juices without samples preparation. The recovery of 99%–111% and RSD no more than 6.8% confirm the good reproducibility of the juice analysis results. A good agreement with the potentiometric titration data was obtained. A correlation (r = 0.9867) between the results of AA determination obtained on the developed sensor and integral antioxidant activity of fruit juices was observed. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 17-03-00679This research was partially funded by RFBR grant number 17-03-00679