Low temperature synthesis of RGO-Au nanocomposite with apparently reduced time and its application as a chemical sensor

Abstract

For the first time, a reduced graphene oxide (RGO)-Au nanocomposites (NC) is synthesized at a low temperature by refluxing without a surfactant. Transmission electron microscopy suggests that Au nanoparticles (NPs) 10–20nm in size are dispersed on the RGO thin film. X-ray diffraction study, UV–vis spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the reduction of graphene oxide (GO). This RGO-Au NC shows an excellent ability to detect Cr(VI) by electrochemical sensing, with good responses to both current and voltage. A glassy carbon electrode modified with the NC shows a significant voltammetric reduction peak. The voltammetric detection ability is highly dependent on the pH of the electrolyte. The large surface area of RGO's porous structure and the electroactive Au NPs both allow free exchange of reaction intermediates, resulting in significantly enhanced Cr(VI) reduction activity. The RGO-Au electrode shows a good linear response in a range of Cr(VI) concentrations from 10 to 800μM and a high sensitivity of 0.0146μAμM−1 with a 2.10μM detection limit.