Synthesis of pumpkin-like CeO2 microstructures and electrochemical detection for phenol

Abstract

A novel pumpkin-like CeO2 microstructures were prepared via a simple heat treatment method. The pumpkin-like CeO2 was fixed on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to obtain a pumpkin-like CeO2 sensor for detection of phenol. The pumpkin-like CeO2 microstructures were found to be capable of originally analyzing phenol using electrochemical technique. The anodic peak current was proportional to the phenol concentration in the ranges of 1.172–527.625 μmol L−1 (R = 0.994) with the detection limit of 0.38 μmol L−1. This electrochemical method has the advantages of simple preparation, rapid detection, low cost of the apparatus, and wide dynamic ranges.