A Metal-free Multi-Heteroatom-Doped Porous Carbon Electrode for Efficient Electrochemical Hydrogen Peroxide Sensing

Abstract

Heteroatom-doped nanostructured carbon materials are a promising class of cost-efficient, metal-free, earth-abundant alternatives for the development and wide commercialization of electrochemical sensors. Here, we report the facile design of a porous carbon electrode material doped with multi-heteroatoms (B, N, F) for efficient electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide, a key species in many environmental processes. The unique three-dimensional (3D) network structure of the nanocarbon electrode featuring plausible modified electronic structure through adequate heteroatom doping facilitates improved electrochemical H2O2 sensing . With optimum chemical and physical attributes, the material synthesized at 900 °C (BNF-PC 900) demonstrates excellent electrochemical response to the presence of H2O2 in an aqueous medium at neutral pH. In addition to good sensitivity and a low detection limit, the porous carbon electrode also demonstrates excellent selectivity towards H2O2 in the presence of potential interfering agents. The simplified design approach with a unique 3D porous structure can be employed for the convenient and scalable synthesis of various metal-free as well as metal-based electrode materials from earth-abundant resources for application in electrochemical sensors.