Novel Zinc Oxide Nanostructures Fabrication by Oxygen Plasma Surface Modification and Improvement of Ractopamine Detection

A feasible method for different ZnO nanostructures fabrication via the O plasma surface modification was reported in the present work. After the as-prepared ZnO nanoparticles were dispersed in the aqueous solution of NaCO, the resultant nanomatter was treated by O plasma for different times at high plasma input power of 200 W. It shows different nanostructures of ZnO were observed, such as nanowire, nanosheet, nanoneedles, and nanoparticles. Also, the chemical and crystal performances of the resultant ZnO nanostructures were depended on the duration of plasma. On these bases, the formation mechanism of new nanostructured ZnO-related materials was discussed. In comparison with the pristine ZnO, the plasma modified ZnO nanostructures (p-ZnO) exhibited a relative high electrochemical performance and sensitivity toward the detection of ractopamine (RAC) with a detection limit of 1.18 ng mL within the range of 5–500 ng mL. It hints that the p-ZnO nanostructure could be used as a new alternative electrochemical biosensor for the detection of the food additives.