Synthesis of Ultrastable Ag Nanoplates/Polyethylenimine-Reduced Graphene Oxide and Its Application as a Versatile Electrochemical Sensor - Carbon4Energy

Investigations on Ag nanostructures/reduced graphene oxide composites have been enormously reported, yet the morphology control of those loaded Ag nanocrystals is still challenging. We herein developed a facile method to grow triagular Ag nanoplates (AgP) on polyetheylenimine-modified reduced graphene oxide (AgP/PEI-rGO). The AgP/PEI-rGO hybrids show unexpected high stability against chloride ion (Cl−) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) possibly due to the strong interaction between surface Ag atoms with amine group of PEI. In the chronoamperometry measurements for detecting H2O2, N2H4, and NaNO2, AgP/PEI-rGO hybrids show very wide linear ranges (usually 10-6−10-2 mol·L-1 for H2O2, N2H4, and NaNO2, respectively) and low detection limits down to ~1×10-7 mol·L-1, which demonstrated the promising electrochemical sensor applications of metal/graphene hybrids with well-defined morphologies and facets. Meanwhile, this strategy could be extended to deposition of other noble metals on rGO with controlled morphologies.