A Facile One-Step Synthesis of Cuprous Oxide/Silver Nanocomposites as Efficient Electrode-Modifying Materials for Nonenzyme Hydrogen Peroxide Sensor

Cuprous oxide/silver (Cu2O/Ag) nanocomposites were prepared via a facile one-step method and used to construct an electrochemical sensor for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) detection. In this method, AgNO3 and Cu(NO3)(2) were reduced to Cu2O/Ag nanocomposites by glucose in the presence of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) at a low temperature. The optimum condition was the molar ratio of silver nitrate and copper nitrate of 1:10, the temperature of 50 degrees C. Under this condition, Cu2O/Ag nanocomposites were obtained with uniformly distributed and tightly combined Cu2O and Ag nanoparticles. The size of Cu2O particles was less than 100 nm and that of Ag particles was less than 20 nm. Electrochemical experiments indicate that the Cu2O/Ag nanocomposites-based sensor possesses an excellent performance toward H2O2, showing a linear range of 0.2 to 4000 M, a high sensitivity of 87.0 A mM(-1) cm(-2), and a low detection limit of 0.2 M. The anti-interference capability experiments indicate this sensor has good selectivity toward H2O2. Additionally, the H2O2 recovery tests of the sensor in diluted milk solution signify its potential application in routine H2O2 analysis.