Electrochemical detection of paracetamol based on CoO/Co3O4/NC nanocomposites derived from COFs†

Acetaminophen (APAP), also known as paracetamol, is a widely used analgesic and antipyretic, but its metabolites are toxic and can cause liver damage when used in excess. Rapid detection of APAP is essential, and conventional methods such as HPLC and GC are expensive and complex. To this purpose, we successfully prepared CoO/Co₃O₄/NC porous carbon composites with large specific surface area, homogeneous pore structure, and abundant adsorption active sites as electrochemical sensors for the rapid, simple, and inexpensive detection of acetaminophen. The CoO/Co₃O₄/NC porous carbon composites were prepared by doping Co²⁺ and calcining, and a large number of N and O metal chelate sites in COF_TZT-DVA could coordinate with Co²⁺, which effectively suppressed the aggregation phenomenon of CoO/Co₃O₄ in the composites, and realized the uniform dispersion of Co²⁺. This composite material not only has excellent stability, but also exhibits excellent catalytic performance. The experimental results showed that the sensor had an extremely low detection limit (0.79 μM) and a wide linear response range (2.5 μM–423 μM), and the sensitivity was up to 2000 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻². This study provides a new strategy for the preparation of high-performance paracetamol sensors.