Preparation of rod-zinc oxide/agaric derived porous carbon nanocomposites and their application in electrochemical sensing†

In this work, agaric derived porous carbon (A-dPC) was obtained through high-temperature pyrolysis of biomass soaked in HNO₃ solution as a carbon source, and zinc oxide nanorods (r-ZnO) were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. A-dPC and r-ZnO were combined under ultrasound to form zinc oxide nanorods/agaric derived porous carbon nanocomposites (r-ZnO/A-dPCNs). The A-dPC, r-ZnO and r-ZnO/A-dPCNs were characterized utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). The r-ZnO/A-dPCNs/GCE showed good electrocatalytic activity in the detection of acetaminophen (PA), dopamine (DA) and luteolin. Under the optimal conditions, the sensor is capable of detecting PA and DA contemporaneously, has a wide linear range (0.10 μM–200.0 μM and 0.10 μM–100.0 μM) and low detection limits of 0.033 μM to PA and 0.022 μM to DA and meanwhile, it also can be used to detect luteolin with a wide linear range (0.010 μM–80.0 μM) and low detection limit (0.0012 μM). In addition, the sensor can be applied to detect PA, DA and luteolin in actual samples, and it exhibits good selectivity and stability.