Abstract
Nitrobenzene (NB) is toxic even at low concentrations and hence its contamination in the environment is a pervasive concern. The electrochemical techniques have emerged as rosy method to sense and degrade NB and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C
3
N
4
) catalysts are found to be promising for this. In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)-decorated
n
-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine (EDAS)-modified graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites [EDAS/(g-C
3
N
4
-Ag)
NC
] having various silver concentrations are prepared through a facile method and applied for the electrochemical sensing of NB derivatives. UV–vis absorption edge at 430 nm together with a broad surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at 450 nm indicates the existence of AgNPs on the g-C
3
N
4
nanosheets. FTIR spectra endorse the presence of g-C
3
N
4
nanosheets in the composite. The presence of Ag in EDAS/(g-C
3
N
4
-Ag)
NC
is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The nanocomposite prepared with 2 mM Ag
+
shows superb electrocatalytic activity toward the reduction of nitrobenzene and its derivatives. Sensitivity of the modified electrode and limit of detection (LOD) for NB assessed by square wave voltammetry are found to be 0.594 A M
−1
cm
−2
and 2 µM, respectively, in the linear range of 5–50 µM.