A novel electrochemical sensor based on a hybrid composed of CoZn/ N-doped porous carbon for the simultaneous determination of catechol and hydroquinone

Catechol and hydroquinone (CC and HQ), are typical phenolic pollutants (PPs) that can cause irreversible damage to humans and organisms. Electrochemical sensors, with their advantages of simple operation, high speed and sensitivity, have become an important method for detecting CC and HQ. Herein, the nanoparticles supported on N-doped porous carbon and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are fabricated by pyrolyzing the hydrogel prepared from melamine and citric acid chelated with Co2+/Zn2+ ions (CoZn/CNT@Por.NC) was dropped onto glassy carbon electrode to construct an electrochemical sensor for the simultaneous determination CC and HQ. The CoZn/CNT@Por.NC with porous structure provided abundant active sites due to its large specific surface area and achieved sensitive detection of CC and HQ with wide linear range (CC:10-280 mu M, HQ:10-280 mu M) and low detection limit (CC: 1.08 mu M, HQ: 2.11 mu M), respectively. Besides, the proposed sensor showed good performance in detecting CC and HQ in environmental water samples.