A simple hydrothermal synthesis of nickel hydroxide–ordered mesoporous carbons nanocomposites and its electrocatalytic application

Abstract

A simple hydrothermal synthesis of nickel hydroxide–ordered mesoporous carbons nanocomposites (Ni(OH) 2–OMCs) is proposed for the first time. The characterization of the new material shows that, after anchoring Ni(OH) 2 nanoparticles on the mesoporous, ordered mesostructure of the nanocomposites remain intact and Ni(OH) 2 is electrochemically accessible. The performance of Ni(OH) 2–OMCs is compared to OMCs and the properties of the new material are found to be improved. A sensor for sensitive detection of underivatized glycine has been developed based on Ni(OH) 2–OMCs modified glass carbon (Ni(OH) 2–OMCs/GC) electrode. The linear response of glycine measurement was up to about 3.2 mM with a high sensitivity of 10.5 μA mM −1 for the Ni(OH) 2–OMCs/GC electrode. The detection limits was estimated to be 0.26 μM (S/N = 3). Then ethanol was selected as another marked molecule, a nonenzymatic amperometric sensor of ethanol based on the Ni(OH) 2–OMCs nanocomposites is also constructed. The linear response of ethanol measurement was up to about 80 mM with a sensitivity of 0.65 μA mM −1. The detection limits was estimated to be 4.77 μM (S/N = 3).