A novel and simple route to prepare a Pt nanoparticle-loaded carbon nanofiber electrode for hydrogen peroxide sensing

A facile wet-chemical method was developed to prepare a novel Pt nanoparticle-loaded carbon nanofiber (Pt/CNF) electrode. Without using any stabilizer or pretreatment procedure, large amounts of Pt nanoparticles could be well deposited on the surface of the electrospun CNF electrode at room temperature, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of the precursor concentration on the formation of Pt catalysts was investigated to optimize the performance of the proposed hybrid electrode. When applied to the electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the Pt/CNF electrode exhibited low overpotential, fast response and high sensitivity. A low detection limit of 0.6 μM with wide linear range of 1–800 μM (R = 0.9991) was achieved at the Pt/CNF electrode, which was superior to that obtained with other H2O2 electrochemical sensors reported previously. In addition, the Pt/CNF electrode showed good selectivity for H2O2 detection in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA), acetaminophenol (AP) and uric acid (UA) under physiological pH condition. The attractive analytical performances and facile preparation method made this novel hybrid electrode promising for the development of effective H2O2 sensors.

► Electrospun carbon nanofiber (CNF) electrode was used as effective supporter for deposition of Pt catalysts without any pretreatment and modification procedure.
► Pt nanoparticles were well dispersed on the CNF electrode via a simple wet-chemical reaction without any surfactant or stabilizer.
► The Pt/CNF electrode exhibited low overpotential for electrochemical reduction of H2O2.
► Fast response, high sensitivity and good selectivity for H2O2 detection were obtained with the Pt/CNF hybrid electrode.