Abstract:
Ternary nanocomposite has received considerable attention owing to their novel characteristics
and potential applications on ascorbic acid determination and antioxidant activity. The aim of
this study was to synthesize, characterize, conduct electrochemical determination of ascorbic
acid and evaluate the antioxidant activity of Ag2S-CuO-ZnO ternary nanocomposite. Ag2SCuO−ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized using a facile and cost-effective homogenous
precipitation method and it was done by mixing CuO−ZnO and AgNO3 precursors in 60 mL of
ethanol and ultrasonicated for 40 min. The synthesized Ag2S-CuO-ZnO ternary nanocomposite
was characterized by UV-VIS, FT-IR, XRD, SEM and CV. Ascorbic acid showed an irreversible
oxidation peak. While the observed shift in peak potential with pH in the range of 3 to 7
indicated the participation of protons during ascorbic acid oxidation, the change in peak
potential shift with scan rate in the range of 10 to 120 mV / s confirmed the irreversibility of the
oxidation reaction. A better linear oxidative peak current on ascorbic acid was observed in the
range of 10-150 μM with (LOD) and (LOQ) of 1.37 μM and 4.59μM, respectively. Recovery in
the range (96 -105%) for spiked standard ascorbic acid in orange confirmed the potential
applicability of the method for the determination of ascorbic acid in real samples. The Ag2SCuO-ZnO nanocomposite showed better antioxidant activity than CuO-ZnO confirmed with IC50
value of 560µg/ml and 881µg/ml, respectively while that of reference standard ascorbic acid is
98µg/ml. Due to this, Ag2S-CuO-ZnO nanocomposite revealed promising antioxidant activity
compared to standard ascorbic acid. Therefore, the synthesized Ag2S-CuO-ZnO nanocomposite
was important for determination of ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity.
