Hydrogen peroxide is widely used as a sanitizer, disinfectant, bleach, and as a preservative in food. High concentrations of hydrogen peroxide in human body can cause cellular damage and form hydroxyl radicals known to be involved in carcinogenesis. Therefore, accurate and reliable determination of hydrogen peroxide is critical. Electrochemical sensors have proven to be effective devices for the determination of hydrogen peroxide.
In this work, I focused on the development of an amperometric sensor for the determination of hydrogen peroxide concentration. For the measurements, I focused on optimizing the electrode and studying different basic or buffer solutions. To achieve the best electrode performance, I optimized the modification of the electrode surface by adjusting the ratio of deposited materials in the dispersion poured on the electrode surface. The response and sensitivity of the electrode to known additives of standard hydrogen peroxide solution were monitored. Based on these results, I selected the best electrode preparation method and the most suitable solution for the determination of hydrogen peroxide in real samples. Of the solutions studied, the KOH solution showed the best performance. Therefore, a calibration curve for hydrogen peroxide in KOH solution was prepared and the detection limit (LOD) was calculated. The developed sensor was used for the analysis of real samples of hydrogen peroxide synthesized in 0,1 M KOH solution.
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