One-pot and surfactant-free synthesis of N-doped mesoporous carbon spheres for the sensitive and selective screening of small biomolecules

Abstract

Abstract A facile electrochemical sensor based on the mesoporous N-doped carbon spheres (MNCS) was reported for the sensitive and selective screening of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA). The MNCS materials were prepared in a one-pot and surfactant-free synthesis method through the ethylenediamine-assisted cooperative self-assembly between 3-aminophenol/formaldehyde (APF) and silica templates. The resulted MNCS showed the high nitrogen content (8.21 at.%) and rich specific surface areas (up to 1149 m2 g−1). Benefited from the good properties of MNCS, the MNCS modified GC electrode (MNCS/GCE) exhibited high electrocatalytic activity towards AA, DA and UA with large peak potential separation and enhanced peak currents. Besides, MNCS/GCE displayed high sensitivity and good selectivity in the simultaneous detection of AA, DA and UA with low detection limits (S/N = 3) of 5.39 μM, 0.17 μM and 0.34 μM, respectively. Furthermore, MNCS/GCE possessed good stability and great anti-interference towards some common compounds in body fluid. Therefore, it was successfully applied to determine the three species in artificial urine samples. The attractive features of MNCS provided the potential applications of MNCS in sensing biomolecules.