Abstract
The authors have coupled ultrafine α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals to N-doped graphene (NG) to obtain a novel material for use in a photoelectrode. The presence of NG is shown to strongly affect the morphology and size of the α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals formed on the NG sheets, and to improve their photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity. Interestingly, the PEC performance of the nanocomposite is closely correlated to the size of the α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals in that small nanocrystals display better PEC properties. The photocurrent of α-Fe2O3-NG is nearly 3.3-fold stronger than that of α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals. Based on the remarkable PEC performance of this nanocomposite, a PEC sensor was constructed for the sensitive determination of 1,4-dihydroxybenzene (HQ). Its photocurrent increases with the HQ concentration in the range from 3.0 nM to 3.3 μM, and the detection limit is 1.0 nM (at an S/N ratio of 3). In our perception, the study presented here can serve as a basis for a better understanding of the relationship between morphologies and PEC performance of such nanomaterials. Conceivably, it may be extended to other PEC sensing system and to other fields associated with nanotechnology.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21375050, 21505055 and 21675066), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu province (No. BK20150486), a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (No. PAPD-2014-37), Qing Lan Project and Innovation Project of Science and Technology for Graduates of Jiangsu University (No. KYLX16_0907).
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Liming Dai and Xiaojiao Du contributed equally to this work.
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Dai, L., Du, X., Jiang, D. et al. Ultrafine α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals anchored on N-doped graphene: a nanomaterial with long hole diffusion length and efficient visible light-excited charge separation for use in photoelectrochemical sensing. Microchim Acta 184, 137–145 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1989-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1989-y