Electrooxidation of N2H4 through CuCuO electronic oscillation on a nitrogen-doped GO surface

[Display omitted] •The involvement of hydrogen bonding and pyrrolic–N in the distribution of CuCuO NPs as colonies and islands.•Why ethanol induces excessive self-layering in GO and what role does pyridinic–N play to prevent the self-layering of GO-PMBA sheet?•The electrochemical behavior of all synthesized nanomaterials as a sensor towards N2H4 oxidation.•Linear range, sensitivity, and practical feasibility suggests GO-PMBA-CuCuO a good sensor for the N2H4 detection. This paper gives an insight into the possible synthesis route of CuCuO nanoparticles (NPs), along with the factors responsible for the distribution of CuCuO NPs in the form of islands and colonies on the respective surfaces of graphene oxide (GO) and GO functionalized with p-phenylenebis(methylamine) (GO-PMBA). A light was shed on the role of pyrrolic–N in the synthesis of CuCuO colonies through H bonding followed by the possible hindrance caused by pyridinic–N in the self-layering of GO-PMBA sheets in the GO-PMBA-CuCuO nanomaterial. Moreover, the involvement of the ethanol solvent in the excessive self-layering of GO sheets in a GO-CuCuO nanomaterial was assessed. Among the synthesized nanomaterials, GO-PMBA-CuCuO showed a remarkable response toward hydrazine (N2H4) oxidation, due to the significant increase in its surface area from the dual interactions of GO and PMBA, followed by the electronic oscillations of the CuCuO oxidation state in an alkaline electrolyte, thus leading to a tremendous increase in its current density. The interference study, stability (RSD = 3.1%), repeatability (RSD = 1.97%), sensitivity (40.51 μAmM−1 cm-2), linear range (5.0 × 10-5 to 6.0 × 10-3 M), and practical evaluation (97.60–99.91%) of GO-PMBA-CuCuO suggested that it is a suitable candidate for the precise detection of N2H4.