Development of disposable electrochemical sensors and photoanodes manufactured with nanostructured semiconductor materials for the determination and degradation of endocrine disruptors

Abstract

In this project, we propose the development of disposable electrochemical sensors and photoanodes manufactured with nanostructured semiconductor materials. In which, the first will be used for the determination and the second for the degradation of endocrine disruptors. For the development of electrochemical sensors, different carbon nanostructures will be used, such as carbon black, graphene and/or biochar as a recognition phase in the development of new arrays of electrochemical sensors. For this purpose, printed electrodes manufactured with carbonaceous nanostructures modified with metallic nanoparticles and/or quantum dots will be developed. On the other hand, the development of nanostructured semiconductor materials for application in the degradation of endocrine disruptors via photoelectrochemical system is proposed. Semiconductor material such as hematite (± - Fe2O3) will be studied in the manufacture of photoanodes, which will be used to form heterostructures based on the theory of Scheme Z (Type II), whose principle is to obtain synergistic effects of two combined semiconductors that facilitate the transfer of charge, decreasing electron pair recombination and increasing the useful time of the species of interest in the oxidation of molecules. In this perspective, the materials that will be used to design such heterojunctions will be those that contain halogens in their composition (BiOI and BiOBr), as they are known as excellent catalytic materials in optoelectronics studies. (AU)