Gomathi N

Title: Graphene and MOF based materials for electrochemical sensing of biologically important analytes

Abstract:

The full potential of graphene sheets as electrode material in electrochemical sensing is limited by restacking, inert surface and high charging current which can be overcome by incorporating carbon spacers such as carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene nanoribbon (GNR) or any carbon-based nanomaterial, with graphene oxide sheets. We synthesized hybrid graphene using graphene nanoribbon as a carbon spacer between the graphene sheets and further modified with nitrogen containing groups through N₂/Ar plasma treatment, and hybridized with Ni nanoparticle and used the same for (i) ascorbic acid (ii) simultaneous detection of dopamine, uric acid and ascorbic acid and (iii) glucose respectively. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), an emerging class of highly ordered crystalline materials with high porosity, facilitates mass and ion transport. However, the inferior electrical conductivity and poor aqueous stability hinders its application in electrochemical sensing. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO), having more accessible plane and edge sites than graphene films, improves the direct interaction between RGO modified electrode and redox species. The synergic effect arising from the combination of RGO and MOF composites exhibit enhanced electrical conductivity, high specific surface area and multi-channels for ion transport for electrochemical sensing applications. Ni-MOF/RGO composite obtained by direct assembly of Ni-MOF and RGO by a simple sonication method was employed as an electrode modifier for the electrochemical sensing of caffeine.

Audience Take Away Notes

• This talk will give information about surface modification of graphene and MOF
• This will provide new information about the material for electrochemical sensing of biologically important analytes.

Biography:

Dr. Gomathi N studied M.Tech in Chemical Engineering at the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu, India in 1999. She then joined the research group of Prof. Sudarsan Neogi as Research Scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India and received her PhD degree in 2009. After 8 months of postdoctoral fellowship in the research group of Prof. Shika Varma, at Indian Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, India, she joined as Assistant professor in Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Department of Space, Government of India, India in 2010. Currently she is an Associate Professor in the same Institution. She has published more than 40 research articles and book chapters.