Kai Tang

Understanding the extent of cadmium (Cd) contamination and its impact on the food industry and ecosystems is crucial; to this end, electrochemical methods provide sensitive and rapid responses for the in situ detection of heavy metal ions. In this paper, a sensitive Cd²⁺ electrochemical sensor was constructed by using a composite material composed of biomass-derived porous carbon and manganese dioxide (MnO₂/KLSC). The composite was demonstrated to have a porous structure with quasi-cubic MnO₂ particles evenly distributed on the carbon matrix. Using MnO₂/KLSC as the electrode material, a simple electrochemical sensing platform was fabricated for the detection of Cd²⁺. The electrochemical analysis showed that the Cd²⁺ sensor has good performance, with a linear detection range of 0.01–80.0 μmol/L and a detection limit of 9.8 nmol/L. Furthermore, the sensor shows excellent repeatability, reproducibility, and good anti-interference. The sensor was successfully applied to analyze rice and sea water samples, demonstrating satisfactory recovery rates. The good performance of MnO₂/KLSC/GCE can be attributed to the excellent electrical conductivity, enlarged active surface area, and good electron transfer capability.

In this study, β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) functionalized graphene quantum dots (GQDs) was employed to augment the array of chiral recognition sites, thereby enhancing the affinity of GQDs/β-CD composite for imprinting molecules and realizing heightened chiral selectivity. The incorporation of GQDs/β-CD into the synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), synergizing with the host-guest inclusion properties of β-CD and the abundant carboxyl groups of GQDs, enhanced the chiral recognition capacity of MIPs materials. Consequently, a novel MIPs/(GQDs/β-CD) sensor with chiral recognition capabilities tailored for D-carnitine was successfully fabricated. The binding mechanism between GQDs/β-CD and D-carnitine was elucidated via Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The variation in the response signal (ΔI) of the probe molecule exhibited a linear correlation with the logarithm of D-carnitine concentration (lgC) in the range of 1.0 × 10⁻¹² mol/L to 1.0 × 10⁻⁹ mol/L, and the detection limit (3δ/S) was calculated as 2.35 × 10⁻¹³ mol/L. These results underscore a 7.15-fold enhancement in the selectivity of MIPs/(GQDs/β-CD) sensor for D-carnitine recognition. Moreover, the sensor presented commendable efficacy in real-world scenarios, yielding recovery rates ranging from 98.5% to 103.0% during the determination of D-carnitine content in real samples.

Ananas comosus leaves were converted to a porous graphitized carbon (GPLC) material via a high-temperature pyrolysis method by employing iron salt as a catalyst. A cobalt molybdate (CoMoO₄)-and-GPLC composite (CoMoO₄/GPLC) was then prepared by engineering CoMoO₄ nanorods in situ, grown on GPLC. N₂ adsorption–desorption isothermal curves and a pore size distribution curve verify that the proposed composite possesses a porous structure and a large specific surface area, which are favorable for charge and reactant transport and the rapid escape of O₂ bubbles. Consequently, the as-synthesized CoMoO₄/GPLC shows low overpotentials of 289 mV and 399 mV to afford the current densities of 10 mA cm⁻² and 100 mA cm⁻² towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is superior to many CoMoO₄-based catalysts in previous studies. In addition, the decrease in current density is particularly small, with a reduction rate of 3.2% after a continuous OER procedure for 30 h, indicating its good stability. The excellent performance of the CoMoO₄/GPLC composite proves that the GPLC carrier can obviously impel the catalytic activity of CoMoO₄ by improving electrical conductivity, enhancing mass transport and exposing more active sites of the composite. This work provides an effective strategy for the efficient conversion of waste ananas comosus leaves to a biomass-derived-carbon-supported Co-Mo-based OER electrocatalyst with good performance, which may represent a potential approach to the development of new catalysts for OER, as well as the treatment of waste biomass.

In this paper, a highly conductive alkali-activated graphitized carbon (a-GC) was prepared using tilapia fish scales as precursors through enzymolysis, activation and pyrolytic carbonization methods. The prepared a-GC was modified on the surface of a screen-printed carbon electrode to construct a flexible portable electrochemical sensing platform, which was applied to the differential pulse voltametric detection of dopamine (DA) using a U-disk electrochemical workstation combined with a smart phone and Bluetooth. The prepared a-GC possesses good electrical conductivity, a large specific surface area and abundant active sites, which are beneficial for the electrooxidation of DA molecules and result in excellent sensitivity and high selectivity for DA analysis. Under the optimal conditions, the oxidation peak current of DA increased gradually, with its concentrations in the range from 1.0 μmol/L to 1000.0 μmol/L, with the detection limit as low as 0.25 μmol/L (3S/N). The proposed sensor was further applied to the determination of DA in human sweat samples, with satisfactory results, which provided an opportunity for developing noninvasive early diagnosis and nursing equipment.