Electrochemical hydrogen peroxide sensor based on carbon supported Cu@Pt core-shell nanoparticles

•Cu@Pt core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized by two-step reduction method.•The sensors based on Cu@Pt core-shell nanoparticles exhibited excellent catalytic activity towards hydrogen peroxide.•The sensors based on Cu@Pt core-shell nanoparticles can be applied to detect real samples.

The Cu@Pt/C nanocomposites have been synthesized via two-step reduction method. Electrochemical observations showed that the Cu@Pt/C had better electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of hydrogen peroxide than Pt/C, with a wide linear range between 0.50 μM and 32.56 mM, a high sensitivity of 351.3 μA mM− 1 cm− 2, and a low detection limit of 0.15 μM (signal/noise = 3). Furthermore, the sensor based on Cu@Pt/C has potential applications due to its excellent long-time stability, good reproducibility and acceptable selectivity.