Development and application of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical sensors for the determination of emerging contaminants in environmental samples

Abstract

In this project is proposed the development and application of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical sensors for the determination of environmental pollutants in natural waters of rivers and lakes, industrial effluents and catchment waters of treatment stations. The operation of the system is based on oxidation or electro-reduction mechanisms mediated by a conductor or, semiconductor under illumination. Nanocomposite materials such as graphene modified with metal nanoparticle, black carbon modified metal nanoparticle, titanium dioxide, bismuth vanadate and carbon quantum dot will be synthesized, characterized and applied in electroanalysis. In photoelectrochemistry proposal, the presence of a faster charge transfer and the low recombination rate characteristics of the couple graphene quantum dot/semiconductor system, allow the gain in sensitivity. Thus, it is expected that a significant increase in the sensitivity of the analytical method due the sum of the electrochemical and light energies, promoting the quantification of pollutants with low limits of detection. The compounds to be monitored will be pharmaceuticals and pesticides considered as potential emerging pollutants. For analyte extraction from the samples, will be used deep eutectic solvents (DES), which are considerate less toxics and less pollutants than the conventional organic solvents used for this propose. In these conditions, the development of sensitive, accurately, with miniaturization potential, low cost and environment safety analytical methods is expected. (AU)