Achieving high-performance electrochemical sensor for ammonia-nitrogen detection based on Ni foam-supported PtNi alloys via one-step electrodeposition growth

Ammonia-nitrogen is one of the most fundamental and critical indicators for evaluating water environment quality. Therefore, the efficient and accurate detection of ammonia-nitrogen is of great significance for protecting water environment. In this work, Ni foam was selected as conductive substrate, PtNi alloys (Pt 1 Ni 4 -1000) has been designed and fabricated via one-step electrodeposition process. The electrocatalytic activities of Pt 1 Ni 4 -1000 for ammonia oxidation reaction have been measured via cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical detection performances for ammonia-nitrogen detection have been measured via cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Pt 1 Ni 4 -1000 exhibited good electrochemical detection ability for ammonia-nitrogen, along with high sensitivity (29.1 μA μM -1 ), low limit of detection (0.27 μM) and wide detection concentration from 1 to 500 μM. The great ammonia-nitrogen detection performances of Pt 1 Ni 4 -1000 could be attributed to: the formation of PtNi further enhanced the electrocatalytic activity of Pt element.