Electrochemical sensor based on $$\hbox {Na}^{+}$$-doped $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ for detection of phenol

Abstract

In this work, a novel and enhanced electrochemical sensor based on $$\hbox {Na}^{+}$$ -doped $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ was constructed for the detection of phenol. First, the $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ was formed through polymerizing melamine under $$520^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ . And then the $$\hbox {Na}^{+}$$ -doped $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ was fabricated by a simple wet chemical method. The electrochemical sensor was constructed by modifying the carbon paper with the resulting $$\hbox {Na}^{+}$$ -doped $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ . The morphology, chemical compositions and structure of $$\hbox {Na}^{+}$$ -doped $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray detector and X-ray diffraction. The $$\hbox {Na}^{+}$$ -doped $$\hbox {g-C}_{3}\hbox {N}_{4}$$ electrode was used for the cyclic voltammetry and amperometric response detection of phenol in a 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 9.0). Under the optimal conditions, the prepared sensor displayed good performance for the electrochemical detection of phenol with a wide linear range of $$1-110~\upmu \hbox {M}$$ , as well as low detection limit of $$0.23~\upmu \hbox {M}$$ .