Recent advances in selective and sensitive electrochemical spotting of toxic mercury (Hg+) and lithium (Li+) ions utilizing modified La-CdO/CdO electrode and its photocatalytic applications

A low-cost and sustainable systematic practices of aqueous one-pot combustion route that can be minimizing environmental waste for fabrication of CdO/La-CdO nanomaterials using bio-extracts act as capping and stabilizing agents. The synthesized samples were well examined by PXRD, TEM, SEM-EDAX, FT-IR, and UV-Visible spectral techniques for their structural confirmation. The CdO/La-CdO nano-framework is primarily exploited for the detection of environmental pollutants (Hg + and Li + ions) at trace-level using CV and EIS techniques due to its enhanced electronic properties. The emerging electrochemical sensing activities of CdO/La-CdO-graphite paste electrode proved an enhanced selectivity and sensitivity towards Hg + and Li + ions with different concentrations of 1 to 5 mM at 30mV/s scan rate in 0.1 M HCl. Linear Sweep Voltammetry/CV can be used for rapid assessment of electrochemical behavior of tailored nanoparticle with enhanced specific capacitance (Csp = 273 F/g). The increased current with inflated concentrations of Hg + and Li + ions were observed to be + 0.0052 and 4.3 × 10 − 6 A/cm 2 respectively at 1–5 mM at 30 mV/s. LOD and LOQ of La-CdO electrode for Hg + ion was noted to be 0.137 mM & 0.415 mM respectively with maximum sensitivity at -0.72 V and for Li + ions 0.24 mM & 0.68 mM respectively with maximum sensitivity at + 1.85 V. The regression line for sensitivity of prepared La-CdO electrode on Hg + and Li + ions are confirmed by its R 2 values of 0.9508 and 0.9570 respectively, signifying a potentially improvable correlation for quantitative detection. The La-CdO photocatalyst exhibited outstanding photodegradation efficiency against Amranth (AMR) dye, reached 90% degradation in 125 min under Sunlight irradiation was discussed. The tailored CdO/La-CdO-graphite paste electrode assists the advanced selectivity, sensitivity, and fast measurement for detection of heavy metal entities poses an evidential threat to vitality and monitoring.