Photocatalytic synthesis and synergistic effect of Prussian blue-decorated Au nanoparticles/TiO2 nanotube arrays for H2O2 amperometric sensing

Abstract

Prussian blue (PB) nanocrystals are decorated on the TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiNTs) by one-step photocatalytic method. The formed PB-TiNTs composite shows high electrocatalytic activities towards the reduction of H2O2. When the TiNTs layer is covered with a layer of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) before PB decoration, the electrocatalytic activity is significantly enhanced on the as-formed PB-AuNPs/TiNTs nanocomposite, due to the synergistic effect of AuNPs and PB. Compared with PB-TiNTs, the PB-AuNPs/TiNTs based electrode shows improved electrochemical behaviors for H2O2 sensing, such as low overpotential, high sensitivity, wide linear range, and decreased detection limitation, and thus provides a simple, promising and cost-effective sensing platform for development of enzyme based biosensors.