Preparation and physical/electrochemical characterization of carbon nanotube–chitosan modified pencil graphite electrode

In this work, preparation and characterization of single-walled carbon nanotube–chitosan (SWNT–chitosan) modified disposable pencil graphite electrode (PGE) was carried out. Firstly, commercial single-walled carbon nanotube was purified and characterized using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDX) for this purpose. Purified SWNT was mixed with chitosan polymer for preparing their composite. Then, PGE was modified with this composite. The characterization of the modified electrode was carried out using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The electrochemical behaviour of the obtained electrode was investigated and compared with the electrochemical behaviour of chitosan modified and unmodified PGEs using cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and alternative current (AC) impedance spectroscopy. In order to obtain more sensitive electrochemical signals, the effect of SWNT concentration was studied. This modified electrode also showed electrocatalytic effect for hydrogen evolution.