A glassy carbon electrode modified with a multiwalled carbon nanotube@reduced graphene oxide nanoribbon core-shell structure for electrochemical sensing of p-dihydroxybenzene

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were covered with reduced graphene oxide nanoribbons (rGONR) to give a material with a core-shell heterostructure of the type MWCNT@rGONR. It was obtained by (a) longitudinal partial unzipping of MWCNT to form MWCNT@GONR, and (b) subsequent chemical reduction with hydrazine to give MWCNT@rGONR. The MWCNT@rGONR heterostructure was used to modify a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to obtain an electrochemical sensor for p-dihydroxybenzene (DHB). The synergistic effects of the MWCNT and the rGONR results in a distinctly improved redox current towards DHB compared to a bare GCE, an MWCNT/GCE, and an MWCNT@GONR/GCE. At the working voltage range from −100 to 400 mV, it displays a linear response to DHB in the 80 to 3000 nM concentration range with a 20 nM detection limit.