Synthesis of honeycomb Ag@CuO nanoparticles and their application as a highly sensitive and electrocatalytically active hydrogen peroxide sensor material.

Copper acetate/silver nitrate/polyvinylpyrrolidone was first prepared into nano-hybrid silver-doped copper oxide by electrospinning, and then nano-honeycomb particles were produced through heat-treatment. For the first time, honeycomb Ag@CuO nanoparticles were prepared by electrospinning, and a HO sensor was constructed by modifying the carbon paste electrode (CPE) with the honeycomb Ag@CuO nanoparticles. This work performed the structural, morphological, and phase analysis of the Ag@CuO nanoparticles by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated the synthesis of Ag@CuO hybrid nanoparticles with high purity, and cyclic voltammetry and amperometry show that the Ag@CuO modified electrode has high electrocatalytic performances with fast voltammetric responses and a notably decreased overpotential compared to that of even the CuO modified CPE. In addition, the Ag/CuO-CPE based HO sensor has the highest sensitivity of 1982.14 μA (mmol L) cm, the lowest detection limit of 0.01 μmol L ((S/N) = 3), and the measured linear response for HO oxidation ranged from 0.05 μmol L to 100 μmol L and 100 μmol L to 1.5 mmol L. The proposed method was applied to the determination of HO in coconut fruit samples from canned coconut, and the satisfactory results confirmed the applicability of this sensor in practical analysis.