Preparation of highly dispersed gold nanoparticles/mesoporous carbon nanofiber composites and their application toward detection of hydrazine

Novel mesoporous carbon nanofibers (M-CNF) were synthesized using a self-templating strategy and a solution growth process. A facile and controllable electrodeposition method was developed to directly attach gold nanoparticles (GNPs) on mesoporous carbon nanofibers (M-CNF-Au). The prepared composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption–desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Composite modified glass carbon electrodes (M-CNF-Au/GCE) were used for the detection of hydrazine. The results showed that the present electrode exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity toward hydrazine and gave a wide linear range from 1.0 × 10−8 to 1.1 × 10−3 M, a very low detection limit of 8.1 nM, and a fast response time within 2 s. This indicates that M-CNF-Au is a promising material in electrocatalysis.