An enzyme free Vitamin C augmented sensing with different ZnO morphologies on SnO2/F transparent glass electrode: A comparative study.

Three types of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures viz. ZnO nanocrystals (ZnONCs), ZnO nanoparticles (ZnONPs) and ZnO nanobelts (ZnONBs) were synthesized and characterized by UV-Vis, FTIR and SEM. A comparison of signal amplification by these ZnO nanostructures as judged by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) revealed that ZnONCs are better sensing interface for electrochemical detection. When these ZnO nanostructure were compared electrochemically for sensing Vitamin C, ZnONC's sensor outperformed the ZnONP and ZnONB sensor and previously reported sensors. The ZnONCs/MB/FTO electrode showed a wide linear sensing range (0.001μM to 4000μM), low detection limit (0.0001μM), a small response time (5s) and a storage stability of 6months. To the best of our knowledge, this elevated sensitivity and remarkable stability for electrochemical Vitamin C detection using ZnONC's have not been reported so far.