Insights into the morphological and structural particularities of highly sensitive porous bismuth-carbon nanocomposites based electrochemical sensors

Carbon Xerogel Nanostructures with Integrated Bi and Fe Components for Hydrogen Peroxide and Heavy Metal Detection

“…Various analytical methods have been employed for detection of heavy metals or biomarkers including atomic fluorescence spectrometry [ 3 ], atomic absorbance spectrometry [ 4 ], chemiluminescence [ 5 ], chemiresistor [ 6 ], electrochemical [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], and colorimetric [ 10 ] sensors. Among most of the above-mentioned methods, which suffer from some technical downsides involving time-consumption, costs, or low sensitivity and selectivity, the electrochemical detection technique shows promising prospects due to its high sensitivity, high selectivity, simple instrumentation, fast response, miniaturization capabilities, portability and low cost [ 1 ].…”

“…Development of innovative sensitive and cost-effective electrochemical sensors based on different carbonaceous nanocomposite materials, fabricated by different techniques, for the detection of biomolecules, or heavy metal ions has often been in the research focus. Carbonaceous-based nanomaterials such as graphite [ 13 ], carbon fibers [ 14 ], carbon aerogel [ 8 , 15 , 16 ], carbon xerogels [ 7 , 9 ], carbon nanotubes (single walled or multi-walled) [ 17 ], graphene [ 18 ], have been used as the conductive phase in different composite materials suitable for electrochemical detection of biomolecules [ 2 ], or heavy metals ions [ 12 ]. There is a variety of functional converters/additives such as metal nanoparticles (Au, Ag, Pd, Ir, Sb, St, Hg, and Bi), metal oxides (Bi 2 O 3 , Ce 3 O 4 , Fe 3 O 4 , SnO 2 , NiO, SnO 2 , Co 3 O 4 , MnFe 2 O 4 , MnCo 2 O 4 NPs, ZnFe 2 O 4 ), non-metals (N), halogen (F), alloys (AuPt alloy microsphere) [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], etc., which can be physically, chemically, or electrochemically introduced into the carbon matrix.…”

“…Among this variety of carbonaceous nanocomposite materials, Bi supporting carbon xerogel nanomaterials (CXBi) represent a good candidate for heavy metal detection [ 7 , 9 ], and so far, to the best of our knowledge, the properties of Bi-nanocomposite systems were not fully exploited. As major advantages to the functionality of the binary carbon-metal/oxide system, the CX is endowed with tunable morphological and structural properties and possesses a good electrical conductivity, high porosity and surface area [ 7 , 9 ].…”

Versatile Aerogels for Sensors

“…The detection limits of Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Cu 2+ were 2.0 × 10 −11 , 7.5 × 10 −10 , and 6.2 × 10 −9 mol L −1 , respectively by conducting the electrochemical detection in the different single metal ion solutions. Then the electrochemical sensor for heavy metal ions was prepared by the thermal pyrolysis of the aerogel consisting of RF and Bi salt, and the resultant composite aerogel can be used for simultaneous detection of Pb 2+ and Cd 2+ . For the simultaneous detection of multiple heavy metal ions in same aqueous solutions, which is closer to the actual situation, Wang and co‐workers conducted the in situ growth of UiO‐66‐NH 2 on the graphene aerogel, where UiO‐66‐NH 2 with hydrophilic groups served as active sites for the adsorption of heavy metal ions, and graphene aerogel acted as both support material and electrically conductive network with an accelerated electron transfer ( Figure a–c).…”

“…High‐performance sensors for monitoring water quality, detecting explosives and sensing temperature, etc., are imperative to be developed, where the aerogel‐based materials have been widely used. Li et al proposed a novel strategy for the preparation of activated N‐doped graphene aerogel and used it to support Au nanoparticles to get an Au/graphene aerogel composite.…”