A method for the production of reduced graphene oxide using benzylamine as a reducing and stabilizing agent and its subsequent decoration with Ag nanoparticles for enzymeless hydrogen peroxide detection

A stable aqueous dispersion of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been prepared by the chemical reduction of graphene oxide with the use of benzylamine as a reducing and stabilizing agent. Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the resulting rGO. The rGO could be decorated with Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) by direct adsorption of preformed, negatively-charged AgNPs. It was found that the resulting hybrid exhibits good catalytic activity toward the reduction of hydrogen peroxide, leading to an enzymeless sensor with a fast amperometric response time of less than 2 s. The linear detection range is estimated to be from 100 mu M to 100 mM (r = 0.999), and the detection limit is estimated to be 31.3 mu M at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.