Tuning pore structure and specific surface area of graphene frameworks via one-step fast pyrolysis strategy: Impact on electrochemical sensing behavior of catechol

Rational design porous nanomaterials with high specific surface area (SSA) have become an effective approach to improve their electrocatalytic activity, and thus enhancing the electrochemical sensing performance. However, increasing of SSA generally accompanied by magnifying the background current signal, which results in the electrochemical sensors may not achieve the optimal sensing performance. For porous nanomaterials, not only the appropriate SSA but also the pore size probably impacts the electrochemical sensing performance, while this aspect has seldomly studied in electrochemical sensor. Herein, the different SSA and pore size of graphene frameworks (GFs) are successfully synthesized by adjusting the ratio of the mixture of glucose and Na2CO3 via one-step fast pyrolysis process. The tailored GFs has been used as electrode material for constructing non-enzymic electrochemical sensor with catechol (CC) used as model analyte. Electrochemical analysis result suggests that GFs with the highest SSA do not obtain the best behavior, while GFs with abundant hierarchical pore structure and relatively large SSA can achieve the best performance. The optimized GFs as electrode materials for electrochemical detection of CC exhibit a low detection limit of 0.19 μM, and a relatively wide linear range between 1 and 201 μM. This work provides a guide for developing new porous carbon materials for electrochemical sensor with better performance.