Supramolecular microfibrils of o-phenylenediamine dimers: oxidation-induced morphology change and the spontaneous formation of Ag nanoparticle decorated nanofibers.

The direct mix of aqueous FeCl(3) and o-phenylenediamine (OPD) solutions at room temperature leads to supramolecular microfibrils of OPD dimers generated by the oxidation of OPD monomers by FeCl(3) (Sun, X.; Hagner, M. Langmuir 2007, 23, 10441). In this Letter, we report on our recent finding that the subsequent treatment of such microfibrils with a AgNO(3) aqueous solution transforms them into nanofibers decorated with spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with sizes in range of 5-20 nm. The possible formation mechanism involved is also discussed. It is interestingly found that as-formed AgNPs exhibit good catalytic activity toward the reduction of H(2)O(2), leading to an enzymeless sensor with a fast amperometric response time of less than 5 s. The linear detection range is estimated to be from 100 μM to 80 mM (r = 0.998), and the detection limit is estimated to be 62 μM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.