Hydrothermal synthesis of nitrogen, boron co‐doped graphene with enhanced electro‐catalytic activity for cymoxanil detection

Abstract

A sample of nitrogen and boron co‐doped graphene (NB‐Gr) was obtained by the hydrothermal method using urea and boric acid as doping sources. According to XRD analysis, the NB‐Gr sample was formed by five‐layer graphene. In addition, the XPS analysis confirmed the nitrogen and boron co‐doping of the graphene sample. After synthesis, the investigation of the elec-tro‐catalytic properties of the bare (GC) and graphene‐modified electrode (NB‐Gr/GC) towards cymoxanil detection (CYM) was performed. Significant differences between the two electrodes were noticed. In the first case (GC) the peak current modulus was small (1.12 × 10−5 A) and ap-peared in the region of negative potentials (−0.9 V). In contrast, when NB‐Gr was present on top of the GC electrode it promoted the transfer of electrons, leading to a large peak current increase (1.65 × 10−5 A) and a positive shift of the peak potential (−0.75 V). The NB‐Gr/GC electrode was also tested for its ability to detect cymoxanil from a commercial fungicide (CURZATE MANOX) by the standard addition method, giving a recovery of 99%.