Copper/hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheet Composite as an Electrochemical Sensor for Nitrite Determination

Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheet (h-BNNS), known as a white graphene is a promising candidate material for the fabrication of hybrid materials due to its atomically-thick sheet structure, high thermal conductivity, large surface area, unique chemical stability and thermal oxidation-resistance properties. In this paper, h-BNNS was synthesized by a hydrothermal method and then it dropped on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to construct h-BNNS/GCE, which has good stability because of the good film-forming ability of h-BNNS. Finally, a modified electrode (Cu-h-BNNS/GCE) was prepared by an electrodeposition technique. Due to the characteristics of h-BNNS and Cu and their synergistic effects, the modified electrode shows good electrochemical response to nitrite. The morphology and structure of the nanocomposite are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical behaviors of nitrite on the as-prepared electrode were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Under optimal conditions, the oxidation peak current of nitrite was linearly proportional to its concentration in the range from 0.09 to 9853.45 μM, with a detection limit of 0.03 μM.