Electrochemical sensing of 4-nitrochlorobenzene based on carbon nanohorns/graphene oxide nanohybrids
Gangbing Zhu1, Heng Sun2, Bin Zou3
1Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, and the State Key Laboratory of Chirosciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong; School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China.
Abstract:
Owing to the harmful nature of 4-nitrochlorobenzene (4-NCB, one toxic organic pollutant) and the low cost, high sensitivity and ease of operation of electrochemical method, it is highly desirable to develop effect electrochemical sensor for the detection of 4-NCB. Herein, by partially unzipping carbon nanohorns (CNHs) via a simple wet-chemistry method, CNHs and graphene oxide (GO) (CNHs/GO) nanohybrids were produced for sensing 4-NCB with synergistic properties. While the retained CNHs offer a path for rapid electron transport, the GO sheets formed by partially unzipping CNHs provide abundant active sites, further increase in surface area as well as improved dispersibility of the CNHs/GO. Our results show that the CNHs/GO modified electrode has excellent sensitivity to 4-NCB with a wide linear response range and a detection limit as low as 10 nM.
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