Development of Pd/Polyoxometalate/nitrogen-doping hollow carbon spheres tricomponent nanohybrids: A selective electrochemical sensor for acetaminophen.

Abstract

The preparation of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) attached on nitrogen-doping hollow carbon spheres (NHCSs) surface using polyoxometalates (POMs) as both the reductant and bridging molecules by a green strategy was described in this paper. The samples have been thoroughly comprehensive characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectra, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-prepared Pd/POMs/NHCSs tri-component nanohybrids provide enhanced electro-catalytic activities for oxidation of acetaminophen (AP) with the catalytic rate constant (kcat) of 2.34\u202f×\u202f103\u202fM-1s-1 and diffusion coefficient (D) of 6.18\u202f×\u202f10-5 cm2s-1, because of the synergetic effects of Pd NPs and NHCSs. We assessed the use of Pd/POMs/NHCSs as an effective sensing template for electrochemical detection of AP, which showed high analytical performance, such as a linear range of 0.02\u202fμM-0.63\u202fμM with a sensitivity of 508.46\u202fμAmM-1; a linear range of 0.63\u202fμM to 0.083\u202fmM with a sensitivity of 154.27\u202fμAmM-1, and a low limit of detection of 3\u202fnM. This strategy provides a new direction opportunity to promote the electrochemical performance of AP.