Development of Pd/Polyoxometalate/nitrogen-doping hollow carbon spheres tricomponent nanohybrids: A selective electrochemical sensor for acetaminophen.

The preparation of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) attached on nitrogen-doping hollow carbon spheres (NHCSs) surface using polyoxometalates (POMs) as both the reductant and bridging molecules by a green strategy was described in this paper. The samples have been thoroughly comprehensive characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectra, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-prepared Pd/POMs/NHCSs tri-component nanohybrids provide enhanced electro-catalytic activities for oxidation of acetaminophen (AP) with the catalytic rate constant (kcat) of 2.34 × 103 M-1s-1 and diffusion coefficient (D) of 6.18 × 10-5 cm2s-1, because of the synergetic effects of Pd NPs and NHCSs. We assessed the use of Pd/POMs/NHCSs as an effective sensing template for electrochemical detection of AP, which showed high analytical performance, such as a linear range of 0.02 μM-0.63 μM with a sensitivity of 508.46 μAmM-1; a linear range of 0.63 μM to 0.083 mM with a sensitivity of 154.27 μAmM-1, and a low limit of detection of 3 nM. This strategy provides a new direction opportunity to promote the electrochemical performance of AP.