Synthesis of palladium nanocubes decorated polypyrrole nanotubes and its application for electrochemical sensing

In present work, typical nanocomposites were synthesized, composed of polypyrrole nanotubes and palladium nanocubes. The morphology and composition of the nanocomposites were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The obtained data indicated that the polypyrrole nanotubes and palladium nanocubes were well dispersed with the uniform size about 180 nm and 12.5 nm, respectively. Then the nanocomposites were modified on a glassy carbon electrode to build an electrochemical sensor of dopamine. The data of electrochemical experiments showed that the sensor has an excellent catalytic ability to detect dopamine in a linear range from 1.0 µM to 3.0 mM with a detection limit of 0.33 µM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, a sensitivity of 228.56 µA mM−1 cm−2 and a response time of 3 s. The process might provide a special idea to construct a sensor or for application in other fields.