MXene−reinforced octahedral PtCu nanocages with boosted electrocatalytic performance towards endocrine disrupting pollutants sensing

Rational tailoring of hollow and porous bimetallic structures with excellent electrocatalytic performance is appealing yet challenging. Further, combining independent bimetallic nanoparticles with flexible two-dimensional substrate by forming stable heterocomplex is still highly desired for electrocatalysis. Herein, hierarchical PtCu alloy octahedrons with hollow interiors and nanosheet-assembled nanoshells were synthesized by a facile and efficient chemical transformation strategy using Cu2O as sacrificial templates. Such octahedral PtCu nanocages displayed significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity owing to their unique hollow and porous architectures which provided easy access for analytes to the catalyst surface. Thereafter, introduction of Ti3C2Tx MXene was realized via simple incubation of Ti3C2Tx in solution containing the 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane-capped PtCu, and their electrostatic interaction guaranteed the firm adsorption of PtCu nanocages on Ti3C2Tx nanosheets. It turned out that the sensitivity of the hybrid sensor was remarkably improved for electrochemical monitoring of endocrine disrupting pollutants in water, exhibiting ultrawide linear ranges and sub-nanomole detection limits. The eminent electrode performance is attributed to the high specific area, fast electrochemical kinetics, decent electrical catalytic ability, and the synergistic effect between Pt, Cu, and MXene. [Display omitted] •Octahedral PtCu alloy nanocages with nanosheet−assembled shells were synthesized.•MXene−reinforced PtCu hybrid was fabricated for efficient electrocatalytic platform.•A sub−nanomole level sensing of endocrine disrupters was achieved.•The sensing platform can be applied to detect endocrine disrupters in waters.