Explosion in the preparation of nanoparticles: monodisperse Ag inserted in 3D graphene sheets for the electrochemical detection of H2O2

Abstract

In this work, the smashing effect of explosives innovatively led to the preparation of nanoparticles. The energetic material 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid (DNBA) was introduced as a ligand to coordinate with silver ions and connect graphene sheets via electrostatic attraction in the sol–gel process. Owing to the thermolysis of DNBA, the pore-formation of graphene sheets, thermal reduction of Ag⁺ and achievement of monodisperse Ag nanoparticles were realized simultaneously. The morphology and composition of the nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Then, the nanocomposite was used to construct a hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) sensor, which displayed excellent catalytic performance over a wide linear concentration range of 4 × 10⁻⁵ to 4 × 10⁻³ mM with a corresponding sensitivity of 72 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻² and detection limit of 101.25 nM with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.