Shuangli Zhou

N-Doped carbon nanorods as ultrasensitive electrochemical sensors for the determination of dopamine

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanorods (N-CNRs) are prepared by a direct carbonization method using polyaniline nanorods as the carbon precursor. The electrochemical behavior of the N-CNRs-Nafion modified electrode is evaluated in connection with dopamine and ascorbic acid by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Experimental results indicate that the N-CNRs modified electrode has improved current response and fast electron transfer kinetics. The linear response for the selective determination of dopamine in the presence of ascorbic acid is obtained in the range of 0.008 μM to 15.0 μM with a detection limit of 8.9 × 10−9 M (S/N = 3) by differential pulse voltammetry under optimum conditions. The N-CNRs-Nafion modified electrode exhibits a wide linear range, very low detection limit and anti-interference ability. Meanwhile, a kinetic reaction process and a reaction mechanism for the N-CNRs are also proposed.

Synthesis of graphitic mesoporous carbon from sucrose as a catalyst support for ethanol electro-oxidation

Graphitic mesoporous carbon (GMC) has been prepared with non-toxic and economical sucrose as the carbon precursor and mesoporous iron oxide as a catalyst at a relatively low carbonization temperature. XRD patterns suggest that GMC is formed by a carbide intermediate. The data of nitrogen sorption exhibit that the GMC possesses a mesoporous structure. Pt nanoparticles are uniformly loaded on the graphitic mesoporous carbon by a facile and effective microwave assisted ethylene glycol process. All the results show that the graphitic mesoporous carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles have superior electrocatalytic properties compared to Vulcan XC-72 and CMK-3 catalyst supports, suggesting this novel and general method will have a bright future in fuel cell applications.