In situ growth of copper oxide-graphite carbon nitride nanocomposites with peroxidase-mimicking activity for electrocatalytic and colorimetric detection of hydrogen peroxide

Abstract This study reported a facile approach for the preparation of copper oxide-graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites by an in situ growth method in aqueous solution. The powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy characterizations of the copper oxide-graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites suggest that we have successfully synthesized a novel nanozyme. The nano-sized of copper oxide nanoparticles embedded in graphitic carbon nitride nanoparticles were evaluated focusing on the principle of horseradish peroxidase-like activity catalyzing the oxidation of 3, 3′, 5, 5′-tetramethylbenzidine in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Furthermore, we constructed dual sensor platforms based on copper oxide-graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites. By constructing an electrochemical platform and a colorimetric sensor to detect hydrogen peroxide, it is shown that copper oxide-graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites had an excellent peroxidase mimicking catalytic performance. We envision that our nanozyme have great potential in a variety of applications in catalytic field, electrochemical sensing, optical imaging, and environmental assay.