Sulfur-doped-graphitic-carbon nitride (S-g-C3N4) for low cost electrochemical sensing of hydrazine

Abstract Metal-free, ecofriendly, and low-cost nanostructured materials are needed for effective sensing applications. This paper reports Sulfur-doped-graphitic-carbon nitride (S-g-C3N4) as a metal-free and low-cost modifier for fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates (S-g-C3N4/FTO) that acts as the working electrode for the electrochemical detection of highly toxic hydrazine. Owing to the adverse effects of hydrazine on the human and environment, it can be a potential danger and require attention for the development of a sensitive method for the rapid detection of highly toxic hydrazine. The successful doping of g-C3N4 with sulfur (S) has strong influence on the performance of S-g-C3N4/FTO for the efficient detection of hydrazine over g-C3N4. The S-g-C3N4/FTO was evaluated for the detection of hydrazine using linear-sweep voltammetry (LSV) and showed a relatively low detection limit (0.06 μM) with a linear range of 60μM–475μM and good sensitivity. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) revealed showed a low detection limit (0.14 μM) with a linear range of 28μM–260μM. Overall, S-g-C3N4/FTO is a suitable material for the metal-free and low-cost detection of hydrazine and may be a robust sensing platform with great potential for other sensor developments.