MnCo2S4 nanoparticle-assembled hierarchical porous sphere as an effective electrocatalyst for highly sensitive and selective nonenzymatic detection of hydrazine

- Porous MnCo2S4 sphere was synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method.
- Porous MnCo2S4 sphere with a three-dimensional porous structure was constructed from interconnected nanoparticle.
- For the first time, noble-metal-free MnCo2S4 was used as an excellent electrocatalyst for N2H4 oxidation.
- The sensor based on MnCo2S4 exhibited remarkable catalytic performance for N2H4 detection.

It is highly attractive to design and construct a novel enzyme-free electrode for sensitive and selective detection of hydrazine (N2H4). In this paper, for the first time, porous MnCo2S4 sphere was used as an excellent electrocatalyst for N2H4 oxidation, which was synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method. The experiment results revealed that porous MnCo2S4 sphere was constructed from interconnected nanoparticle with a three-dimensional porous structure. Electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the presence of MnCo2S4 reduced the overpotential and accelerated kinetics of N2H4 oxidation. The sensor based on porous MnCo2S4 sphere exhibited an excellent performance for N2H4 analysis with a wide linear range of 0.5 μM-4.78 mM, a high sensitivity of 1495.7 μA mM−1 cm−2, a low detection limit of 0.33 μM (S/N = 3). Moreover, the application of the sensor for detection of N2H4 in tap water samples was demonstrated, which indicates that MnCo2S4 can be employed as the efficient material for electrochemical sensing of N2H4.