Graphene-like carbon nanosheets as a new electrode material for electrochemical determination of hydroquinone and catechol

We report here graphene-like carbon nanosheets (GCN) as a new electrode material for the electrochemical determination of hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC). The GCN were prepared from maltose using ammonia chloride as a blowing agent and cobalt nitrate as a graphitization catalyst precursor. The as-prepared GCN material shows high graphitization degree, abundant porosity, and large specific surface area. Two well-separated anodic peaks for HQ and CC are obtained at GCN modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with a peak-to-peak separation of 118mV. The redox peak currents of HQ and CC at GCN/GCE were much higher than those at bare GCE and reduced graphene oxide modified GCE. For differential pulse voltammetric detection of HQ and CC, the GCN/GCE shows linear response ranges of 1×10−7 ̶ 3×10−5M for HQ and 5×10−7 ̶ 5×10−5M for CC, with detection limits of 2×10−8M for HQ, and 5×10−8 M for CC. Satisfactory recoveries were achieved for the determination of HQ and CC in real water samples. [Display omitted] •Novel graphene-like carbon nanosheets (GCN) were prepared with maltose as a carbon precursor.•The GCN material possesses high graphitization degree, abundant porosity, and large specific surface area.•The GCN material outperforms reduced graphene oxide for detecting hydroquinone and catechol.•Ultra-low detection limits and high sensitivities are obtained for the determination of hydroquinone and catechol.•Satisfactory recoveries were achieved for the determination of hydroquinone and catechol in real water samples