Hydrothermal synthesis of well-stable silver nanoparticles and their application for enzymeless hydrogen peroxide detection

We reported on a facile hydrothermal synthesis of well-stable silver nanopartiles (AgNPs) from an aqueous solution of AgNO3 and poly[(2-ethyldimethylammonioethyl methacrylate ethyl sulfate)-co-(1-vinylpyrrolidone)] (PQ11), a kind of cationic polyelectrolyte, at 100°C without the extra introduction of other reducing agents and protective agents. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation reveals that the AgNPs thus formed mainly consist of small nanoparticles about 5nm in diameter. It is found that such dispersion can form stable AgNPs-embedded films on bare electrode surfaces and these nanoparticles exhibit remarkable catalytic performance for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection. The sensor has a fast amperometric response time of less than 2s. The linear range is estimated to be from 1×10−4M to 0.18M (r=0.998) and the detection limit is estimated to be 3.39×10−5M at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, respectively.