Facile synthesis of neodymium vanadate nanoribbons and its application to highly efficient determination of cadmium ions

Abstract

BACKGROUNDCadmium ions may be discarded to the environment with living organisms from fossil fuel combustion, phosphate fertilizer and battery industries. It is urgent and essential to develop a sensitive and rapid method for monitoring Cd2+ level in aquatic environments and biological systems. Neodymium vanadate possesses good catalytic performance for the electrocatalysis of heavy metal ions. Single crystalline Nd vanadate nanoribbons were obtained by a facile approach and used as electrode materials for electrochemical detection of Cd2+.RESULTSThe Nd nanoribbons with tetragonal NdVO4 phase possess length, width and thickness of longer than 10 μm, 200 nm to 1.5 μm and 50 nm, respectively. Nd vanadate nanoribbons can serve as a good electron transfer interface. An anodic peak is located at +0.56 V at the Nd vanadate nanoribbon‐modified electrode in 0.1 mol L−1 KCl electrolyte containing 1 mmol L−1 Cd2+ by square wave voltammetry technique. The Nd vanadate nanoribbon‐modified electrode exhibits a linear range of 0.01–1000 μmol L−1 and a detection limit of 0.29 nmol L−1, with good stability, reproducibility and selectivity for Cd2+ detection.CONCLUSIONThe optimal measurement conditions including the pH value of the KCl solution, deposition time, deposition potential and standing time, which are pH 1, 180 s, −1.0 V and 60 s, respectively. The Nd vanadate nanoribbon‐modified electrode shows great application potential for detecting heavy metal ions in liquid environments. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.