N, S dual doped mesoporous carbon assisted simultaneous electrochemical assay of emerging water contaminant hydroquinone and catechol

Heteroatom doped mesoporous carbon materials are promising catalysts for the electrochemical sensing application. Herein, we report highly efficient dual heteroatom-doped hexagonal mesoporous carbon (MC) derived from Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15) hard template for the detection of phenolic isomers. The synthesis involves dopamine hydrochloride (DA)/thiophene complex, which helps to attain perfectly retained N and S dual doped mesoporous carbon (NS-MC) framework. NS-MC exhibits higher surface area (951 m(2) g(-1)) as well as higher pore volume (0.12 cm(3) g(-1)) with huge graphitic, pyridinic and thiophenic defective sites which facilitates the well-resolved simultaneous electrochemical detection of phenolic isomers hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC). Our results demonstrate that as-synthesized NS-MC material had a LOD of 0.63 mu M and 0.29 mu M for HQ and CC, respectively. From the calibration curve, sensitivities of proposed sensor were found to be 9.44, 2.71 mu A mu M-1 cm(-2) and 20.80, 10.02 mu A mu M-1 cm(-2) for HQ and CC, respectively with good linear ranges of 10-45 mu M and 45-115 mu M for HQ; 2-16 mu M and 16-40 mu M for CC. The NS-MC modified electrode exhibited good selectivity over various possible interferences. The present investigation reveals that the proposed NS-MC material is a promising metal-free catalyst which boosted to electrochemically detect both HQ and CC, present in the municipal tap as well as natural river stream water samples.

Automated summary

In this study, highly efficient dual heteroatom-doped hexagonal mesoporous carbon material was synthesized for the simultaneous electrochemical detection of phenolic isomers. The material exhibited large surface area, high pore volume, and various defective sites, enabling the effective detection of hydroquinone and catechol. The material showed promising potential for the detection of these compounds in tap water and river water samples.