Electrochemical study of caffeine using iron oxide nanoparticles modified glassy carbon electrode and its electro catalytic activity

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a simple, convenient and cost effective co-precipitation method using starch. The prepared iron oxide nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, SEM, IR and UV techniques. The size of the nanoparticles was calculated from XRD data using Debye-Scherer  equation. The average particle size was found to be 11 nm. The electrochemical behaviour of caffeine was studied using glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with iron oxide nanoparticles by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry using 0.1M acetate buffer solution of pH-7.0. Caffeine gives an oxidation peak at 1.426 V with peak current at -5.6×10^-5A for iron oxide NPs modified GCE whereas for unmodified GCE peak potential occurs at 1.426 V with peak current at -5.08 × 10^-5A. The peak current intensity significantly increased while the peak potential shifted to lower oxidation potential, compared with the unmodified electrode. The results clearly indicated that the modified electrode exhibited excellent electro catalytic activity towards oxidation of caffeine.