Glucose Photoelectrochemical Oxidation at Modified Electrode with ZnO Based Nano Catalysts

In this investigation, we try to synthesis two different simple and cheep photoactive and electroactive nano structures based on ZnO to develop glucose photo-electrochemical oxidation in a photo-fuel cell. At first, we separately doped 1% Pt and 1% Ag in ZnO nano-structure with hydrothermal method. Regarding photo-electrochemical activation of synthesized materials, we selected them for facilitating the glucose oxidation reaction. In this process, we used mono-saccharides as template for growing hexagonal sheets based nano-materials. Then, the effect of the dopants percentage and synthesis conditions such as temperature on the structural morphology and electro-catalytic properties of the final products was studied and optimized. The surface of a pyrolytic graphite electrode was modified by synthesized Pt and Ag doped ZnO nanostructures and it was used for further voltammetric studies. The effect of various parameters such as the amount of modifier deposited on the electrode surface, type, pH and concentration of electrolyte and voltammetric sweep rate was investigated on the electro-oxidation response of glucose. Obtained results revealed improvement of glucose electro-oxidation response on the modified electrodes compared to the bare electrode in the both case of over-potential reduction and current density enhancement. The applicability of the prepared synthesized ZnO doped nanostructures for the glucose oxidation in biofuel cells was confirmed.