Hybride ZnCdCrO embedded aminated polyethersulfone nanocomposites for the development of Hg²⁺ ionic sensor

In this current study, -NH₂ functions are introduced on Polyethersulfone (PES) by a nitration reaction then a reduction reaction to fabricate PES-NH₂ materials with a better hydrophilicity property. The structure of PES-NH₂ was first confirmed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Then, the resultant polymer was doped with different concentrations of ZnCdCrO nanocomposites. The polymeric nanocomposites materials were characterized using FT-IR, x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis (TA), and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy while the morphology was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The performance PES-NH₂-ZnCdCrO nanocomposites was investigated by sensor-probe towards the selective detection of Hg²⁺. The results showed the excellent thermal properties of PES-NH₂-ZnCdCrO nanocomposites in comparison with non-doped polymer (PES-NH₂). Here, Hg²⁺ ionic sensor was prepared using a flat glassy carbon electrode (GCE) coated with a thin-layer of PES-NH₂-ZnCdCrO nanocomposites (20%) with nafion conducting nafion binder (5%). To evaluate the analytical performances of Hg²⁺ ion sensor, a calibration curve was drawn by plotting the current versus concentration. The sensitivity (0.6566 μAμM-1 cm^-2) and detection limit (14.46 0.72 pM) are calculated using the slope of the calibration curve. It was determined the linearity (r² = 0.9941) over the large linear dynamic range (LDR) (0.1 nM to 0.1 mM). Thus, this research approach might be an important route to the selective detection of environmental toxin (Hg²⁺ cation) from the aqueous system in broad scales for the safety of health care, environmental, and aquatic fields.