Amperometric Formaldehyde Sensor Based on a Pd Nanocrystal Modified C/Co2P Electrode

Abstract

Ultrafine Pd nanocrystals were grown on the cobalt phosphide (Co2P) decorated Vulcan XC-72 carbon (C/Co2P), which is realized by first implementing the corresponding metal precursor and then the further chemical reduction process. The as-synthesized C/Co2P/Pd composite was further constructed to form a gas permeable electrode. This electrode can be applied for formaldehyde (HCHO) detection. The results demonstrate that the Co2P nanocrystal can significantly improve the sensing performance of the C/Co2P/Pd electrode for catalytic oxidation of HCHO, which is considered to be attributed to the effective electron transfer from Co2P to Pd in the C/Co2P/Pd composites. Furthermore, the assembled C/Co2P/Pd sensor exhibits high sensitivity of 617 nA/ppm and good selectivity toward various interfering gases such as NO2, NO, SO2, CO2, and CO. It also shows the excellent linear response that the correlation coefficient is 0.994 in the concentration range of 1-10 ppm. Therefore, the proposed cost-effective C/Co2P/Pd nanocomposite, which owns advantages such as high activity and good stability, has the potential to be applied as an effective electrocatalyst for amperometric HCHO detection.