A one-pot and in situ synthesis of CuS-graphene nanosheet composites with enhanced peroxidase-like catalytic activity.

CuS-graphene nanosheet (GNS) composites with well-defined morphology have been successfully fabricated via a simple one-pot hydrothermal route by using thioacetamide (TAA) as both the sulfur source and reducing agent. The as-prepared CuS-GNS composites with an appropriate content of graphene exhibited an even higher peroxidase-like catalytic activity than pristine CuS nanoparticles in acetate buffer solution (pH = 4.0), which provided a facile method for the colorimetric detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). It was calculated that H2O2 could be detected as low as 1.2 μM (S/N = 3) with a wide linear range from 2.0 to 20.0 μM (R(2) = 0.992), indicating that the as-prepared catalyst as an artificial peroxidase is promising for application in biosensors and environmental monitoring.