Selective Growth of Co-electrodeposited Mn₂O₃-Au Spherical Composite Network Towards Enhanced Non-enzymatic Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing

In the present work, we have fabricated a spherical Mn₂O₃-Au nanocomposite network on indium tin oxide (ITO) by means of one step co-electrodeposition technique. Upon careful investigation with microscopic and elemental analysis, we observed selective growth of Au cluster wrapped with Mn₂O₃ spongy mat. The structure and phase of the co-electrodeposited material have been studied with X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. Combined electrochemical and microscopy studies were conducted to understand the formation mechanism of this spherical network. Furthermore, we have investigated the electrochemical property of this elegant nanostructure towards non-enzymatic hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) sensing. We observed an enhanced sensitivity of 39.24 μA/mM/cm² and a low detection limit of 0.34 μM towards H₂O₂ detection exhibited by Mn₂O₃-Au nanocomposite. The sensitivity value is almost three orders higher than pristine Mn₂O_3. The performance of our working electrode was also compared with some of the recent reports on enzyme based H₂O₂ sensors