Kuppusamy Rajesh

D-penicillamine (PA) is a sulfur group-containing drug prescribed for various health issues, but overdoses have adverse effects. Therefore, regular, selective, and sensitive sensing is essential to reduce the need for further treatment. In this study, diphenylamine (DPA) was electropolymerized in an aqueous acidic medium. The PA detection sensitivity, selectivity, and limit of detection were enhanced by electropolymerizing DPA on an electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO)/glassy carbon (GC) surface. The formation of p-DPA and ERGO was investigated using various techniques. The as-prepared p-DPA@ERGO/GC revealed the excellent redox-active (N–C to N=C) sites of p-DPA. The p-DPA@ERGO/GC electrode exhibited excellent electrochemical sensing ability towards PA determination because of the presence of the –NH–functional moiety and effective interactions with the –SH group of PA. The p-DPA@ERGO/GC exhibited a high surface coverage of 9.23 × 10⁻¹² mol cm⁻². The polymer-modified p-DPA@ERGO/GC electrode revealed the amperometric determination of PA concentration from the 1.4 to 541 μM wide range and the detection limit of 0.10 μM. The real-time feasibility of the developed p-DPA@ERGO/GC electrode was tested with a realistic PA finding in human blood serum samples and yielded a good recovery of 97.5–101.0%, confirming the potential suitability in bio-clinical applications.

Electrochemical anodized titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanotubes are of immense significance as electrochemical energy storage devices owing to their fast electron transfer by reducing the diffusion path and paving way to fabricating binder-free and carbon-free electrodes. Besides these advantages, when nitrogen is doped into its lattice, doubles its electrochemical activity due to enhanced charge transfer induced by oxygen vacancy. Herein, we synthesized nitrogen-doped TiO₂ (N-TiO₂) and studied its electrochemical performances in supercapacitor and as anode for a lithium-ion battery (LIB). Nitrogen doping into TiO₂ was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The electrochemical performance of N-TiO₂ nanotubes was outstanding with a specific capacitance of 835 µF cm⁻² at 100 mV s⁻¹ scan rate as a supercapacitor electrode, and it delivered an areal discharge capacity of 975 µA h cm⁻² as an anode material for LIB which is far superior to bare TiO₂ nanotubes (505 µF cm⁻² and 86 µA h cm⁻², respectively). This tailor-made nitrogen-doped nanostructured electrode offers great promise as next-generation energy storage electrode material.