Cost-effective electrochemical activation of graphitic carbon nitride on the glassy carbon electrode surface for selective determination of serotonin

Abstract

A simple one-step electrochemical deposition/activation of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4) is highly desired for sensor configurations and remains a great challenge. Herein, we attempt an electrochemical route to exfoliate the g-C3 N4 nanosheets in an aqueous solution of pH 7.0 for constructing a sensor, which is highly sensitive for the detection of serotonin (5-HT). The significance of our design is to exfoliate the g-C3 N4 nanosheets, a strong electrocatalyst for 5-HT detection. Investigations regarding the effect of neutral pH (pH 7.0) on the bulk g-C3 N4 and g-C3 N4 nanosheets, physical characterization, and electrochemical studies were extensively carried out. We demonstrate that the g-C3 N4 nanosheets have a significant electrocatalytic effect for the 5-HT detection in a dynamic linear range from 500 pM to 1000 nM (R2 = 0.999). The limit of detection and sensitivity of the designed 5-HT sensor was calculated to be 150 pM and 1.03 µA µM−1 cm−2, respectively. The proposed sensor has great advantages such as high sensitivity, good selectivity, reproducibility, and stability. The constructed g-C3 N4 nanosheets-based sensor platform opens new feasibilities for the determination of 5-HT even at the picomolar/nanomolar concentration range.