Three-dimensional mesoporous hierarchical carbon nanotubes/nickel foam-supported gold nanoparticles as a free-standing sensor for sensitive hydrazine detection

Herein, we successfully developed a novel three-dimensional framework attached carbon nanotubes deposited with high density of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs-CNTs/3DF) through a facile method. The achieved hybrid with an opened hierarchical network was effectively used as a free-standing sensor for hydrazine detection. The catalytic activity of the proposed sensor was impressively higher than those of other surveyed materials, such as CNTs/3DF and Au NPs/3DF. In this regard, the much higher intensity of oxidation current density and negative peak potential were presented for Au NPs-CNTs/3DF towards hydrazine oxidation. Through amperometric measurements, the Au NPs-CNTs/3DF electrode displayed excellent performance for hydrazine determination with wide linear detection range of 0.5 to 483μM, high sensitivity of 1.65μA·μM−1·cm−2, a low detection limit of 1.1μM, along with negligible interference effect. The obtained results suggest that the Au NPs-CNTs/3DF hybrid holds the great prospect for highly sensitive and selective determination of hydrazine in practical applications. [Display omitted] •A novel sensor of CNTs/3DF deposited with Au NPs was prepared by a facile method.•The 3D hierarchical mesoporous network improved active sites and conductivity.•The sensor detected hydrazine with low LOD of 1.1μM.•The sensor detected hydrazine with wide linear detection range of 0.5–483μM.•The sensor showed stability and accurate detection of hydrazine in real samples.