Hydrothermal synthesis of urchin-like Co3O4 nanostructures and their electrochemical sensing performance of H2O2

Nanostructured tricobalt tetraoxide, Co3O4, was hydrothermally synthesized starting from cobalt dichloride hexahydrate (CoCl2 center dot 6H(2)O) and urea (H2NCONH2) as precursor and polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400) as a structure-directing agent. Uniform urchin-like nanostructures were hydrothermally obtained at 150 C for 16 h, and the Co3O4 morphology did not collapse after a subsequent calcination at 300 degrees C for 2 h. XRD measurements indicated that the average sizes of Co3O4 particles prior and after heating at 300 degrees C are 64 and 44 nm, respectively. This material has been successfully used for the nanostructuration of screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) which were used for the sensitive electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The sensor is endowed with a large dynamic range (0.1 to 50 mu M) and a limit of detection of 0.145 mu M. The as obtained results show that the Co3O4 nanomaterial could be a candidate to be used as sensors for the detection of analytes. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc.