A highly conducting flower like Au nanoparticles interconnected functionalized CNFs and its enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards hydrazine through direct electron transfer

A numerous number of carbon-based nanomaterials have been developed for various technological applications, nevertheless a degree of accessibility is very less. Notably, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) based materials are insufficiently studied compare to CNT and graphene due to their inaccessibility in aqueous dispersion. Here we have functionalized the CNF by using acid treatment for further modification. Functionalization of CNF was confirmed by different characterization techniques like FT-IR, RAMAN, and XRD. To increase the electrical conductivity of F-CNFs, flower-like Au nanoparticles were electrodeposited onto the F-CNFs. Optimization study for electrodeposition of Au nanoparticles was performed with Au precursor's concentration and deposition cycle number. As the result, the optimal electrochemical active surface area (EASA) of the modified electrode is obtained to be 1.67 cm(2) for 20 cycles which are higher than that of the previously reported Au nanoparticles based literature. The developed material was used as an electrode modifier for the detection of hydrazine. As expected, the amperometric hydrazine sensor shows a very low detection limit of 8 nM with a high sensitivity of 7.5 mu A mu M-1 cm(-2). The excellent analytical parameters of the F-CNF@Au/GCE modified electrode over the various related modified electrodes suggest that the electrode can be useful for use in trace level detection of hydrazine in several industrial and pharmaceutical applications. (C) 2017 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.