TiO2/MWCNT/Nafion-Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode as a Sensitive Voltammetric Sensor for the Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide.

In this work we describe a straightforward approach for creating a nanocomposite comprising multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) using the hydrothermal technique, which is then characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) to assess its properties. Nafion is employed as a reticular agent for the nanocomposite on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE), creating the MWCNT/TiO2/Nafion/GCE system. The electrochemical behavior of the system was evaluated using cyclic voltammetry, revealing its remarkable electrocatalytic activity for detecting hydrogen peroxide in water. The developed sensor showcased a broad linear response range of 14.00 to 120.00 µM, with a low detection limit of 4.00 µM. This electrochemical sensor provides a simple and highly sensitive method for detecting hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solutions and shows promising potential for various real-world applications, particularly in H2O2 monitoring.

Validation of a Low-Cost Pavement Monitoring Inertial-Based System for Urban Road Networks.

Road networks are monitored to evaluate their decay level and the performances regarding ride comfort, vehicle rolling noise, fuel consumption, etc. In this study, a novel inertial sensor-based system is proposed using a low-cost inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a global positioning system (GPS) module, which are connected to a Raspberry Pi Zero W board and embedded inside a vehicle to indirectly monitor the road condition. To assess the level of pavement decay, the comfort index awz defined by the ISO 2631 standard was used. Considering 21 km of roads with different levels of pavement decay, validation measurements were performed using the novel sensor, a high performance inertial based navigation sensor, and a road surface profiler. Therefore, comparisons between awz determined with accelerations measured on the two different inertial sensors are made; in addition, also correlations between awz, and typical pavement indicators such as international roughness index, and ride number were also performed. The results showed very good correlations between the awz values calculated with the two inertial devices (R2 = 0.98). In addition, the correlations between awz values and the typical pavement indices showed promising results (R2 = 0.83-0.90). The proposed sensor may be assumed as a reliable and easy-to-install method to assess the pavement conditions in urban road networks, since the use of traditional systems is difficult and/or expensive.