In this study, a material comprised of chitosan stabilized silver nanoparticles on the carbon paste electrode (CS-SNPs/CPE) is used as an electrochemically active material for the determination of p-nitroaniline (p-NA) in neutral medium by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). A chemical process is used to synthesize silver nanoparticles using chitosan and sodium borohydride as stabilizer and reducing agent respectively at room temperature. Characterization of the end product using UV?Vis spectroscopy verified the presence of silver nanoparticles. The silver nanoparticles were shown to have an average size of 50 nm by X-ray diffraction analysis. The electrochemical characterization showed that the CS-SNPs/CPE exhibits high electroanalytic activity that can be harnessed for sensor construction and related applications. The as developed sensor exhibited a lower detection limit of 5 nM towards the p-NA reduction in the linear range of 7 nM to 1 μM (R2 = 0.986). The CS-SNPs/CPE was then extended for the determination of p-NA in real samples such as wastewater. All these studies confirmed that the chitosan stabilized silver nanoparticles on the carbon paste electrode are a potential candidate in the field of electrochemical sensing.
