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Based on the structural characteristics of the anodes of lithium-ion batteries, an improved Hummers’ method is proposed to recycle the anode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries into graphene. In order to effectively separate the active material from the copper foil, water was selected as an ultrasonic solvent in this experiment. In order to further verify whether lithium ions exist in the active material, carbon powder, it was digested by microwave digestion. ICP-AES was then used to analyse the solution. It was found that lithium ions were almost non-existent in the carbon powder. In order to further increase the added value of the active material, graphene oxide was obtained by an improved Hummers’ method using the carbon powder. The graphene material was also reduced by adding vitamin C as a reducing agent through a chemical reduction method using graphene oxide. Meanwhile, the negative graphite, graphite oxide and graphene samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, FTIR and TEM. The conductivity of the negative graphite, graphite oxide and graphene was tested. The results show that graphene prepared by a redox method has a better layered structure, less impurities and oxygen groups in its molecular structure, wider interlayer spacing and smaller resistivity.

A uric acid (UA) electrochemical biosensor was constructed using ferrocene (fc) decorated cuprous oxide (cu 2 o) enhanced electro-active characteristics and covalently immobilized with uricase (Uox) on glassy carbon electrode (Gce). the electrochemical characteristics of the fabricated electrode was analysed by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and differential pulse voltammetry (DpV). DpV studies revealed rapid response of fabricated electrode Uox/fc/cu 2 o/Gce towards UA in a wide concentration range of 0.1-1,000 μM with a sensitivity of 1.900 μA mM −1 cm −2 and very low detection limit of 0.0596 μM. A very low magnitude Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) value was evaluated as 34.7351 μM which indicated the chemical attraction of the enzyme towards the UA was much higher. the developed biosensor was successfully applied to detect UA in human urine samples. Moreover, reproducibility and stability studies demonstrated the fabricated UOx/Fc/ cu 2 O/GCE biosensor had high reproducibility with a RSD of 2.8% and good reusability with a RSD of 3.2%. Specificity studies results showed the fabricated biosensor had strong anti-interference ability. the improved sensor performance was attributed to the synergistic electronic properties of cu 2 o and fc that provided enhances delectrocatalytic activity and electron transfer. the present biosensor can be extended for use in clinical settings.

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A simple and sensitive electrochemical method for the simultaneous and quantitative detection of ranitidine (RT) and metronidazole (MT) was developed, based on a poly(chromotrope 2B) modified activated glassy carbon electrode (PCHAGCE). The PCHAGCE showed excellent electrocatalytic activity toward the reduction of both RT and MT in 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.0). The peak-to-peak separations for the simultaneous detection of RT and MT between the two reduction waves in cyclic voltammetry were increased significantly from ∼0.1 V at activated GCE, to ∼0.55 V at PCHAGCE. By differential pulse voltammetry techniques, the reduction peak currents of RT and MT were both linear over the range of 1.0 × 10-4.0×10 mol/L. The detection limits (S/N = 3) were 5.4 × 10 mol/L and 3.3 × 10 mol/L for RT and MT, respectively. The modified electrode was successfully applied to the determination of RT and MT in pharmaceutical preparations and human serum as real samples with stable and reliable recovery data.