Issue 8, 2021

A reusable, reagent-less free chlorine sensor using gold thin film electrode

Abstract

Free chlorine is widely used as a disinfectant in the water industry. Accurate monitoring of the residual free chlorine concentration in water cycles is critical to maintain public health safety. Here, we report on a thin gold film-based reusable and reagent-less free chlorine sensor. A gold thin film of 300 nm thickness was deposited on a polyimide tape, which was placed on a glass substrate and a simple Styrofoam adhesive tape was used to cover the film and expose 0.36 cm2 circular area as the sensing surface. The sensor showed a high sensitivity of 0.327 μA ppm−1, with a linear range of 0 to 6 ppm, and an accuracy of <0.1 ppm with high selectivity in the presence of commonly interfering ions. The sensor response time was 50 s with a negligible hysteresis of 0.06 ppm. The sensor showed very little change in output current in the pH range between 5.2 to 8.4, and temperature range of 20 to 30 °C. Therefore, the sensor operation is reagent-less, does not need frequent calibration, and showed consistent sensing performance with real water samples. The simple fabrication, ease-of-use and reliable sensing performance of the proposed sensor shows feasibility for mass-production and application in remote and resource-limited areas.

Graphical abstract: A reusable, reagent-less free chlorine sensor using gold thin film electrode

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Jan 2021
Accepted
22 Feb 2021
First published
03 Mar 2021

Analyst, 2021,146, 2626-2631

A reusable, reagent-less free chlorine sensor using gold thin film electrode

A. U. Alam, D. Clyne, W. Lush and M. J. Deen, Analyst, 2021, 146, 2626 DOI: 10.1039/D1AN00038A

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