Fabrication of electrocatalytically active, cobalt-embedded nitrogen-doped ordered macroporous carbon for sensitive detection of nitrobenzene

Abstract

Zeolitic imidazole framework-67 can be converted into metal compounds, and N-doped carbon nanomaterials, under suitable pyrolysis conditions. N-doped carbon materials have attracted much attention due to their high specific surface area, controllable framework structure, and significant synergy between carbon and transition metal nanocrystals. We successfully synthesized Co-NC by using PS nanospheres as templates and immersing the ZIF-67 precursor solution into the PS sphere template gap, and then carbonizing directly at different temperatures. The obtained Co-NC-800 shows excellent electrochemical activity because of its uniform and unique porous structure, as well as the uniform distribution of metal and nitrogen atoms in the carbon nanoframe. The Co-NC exhibits enhanced electrochemical sensing of nitrobenzene, with a wide linear detection range (0.1 μM–0.863 mM), lower detection limit (0.086 µM, S/N = 3), excellent stability and better selectivity. Therefore, the developed Co-NC electrocatalyst represents a promising catalyst for electrochemical analysis.