One-step pyrolytic synthesis of nitrogen and sulfur dual-doped porous carbon with high catalytic activity and good accessibility to small biomolecules.

As one of promising catalysts that contain high density of active sites, N doped carbons have been extensively researched, while the reports for N, S dual-doped carbon materials are far less exhaustive. Herein, devoid of activation process and template, N, S dual-doped porous carbon (N-S-PC) was prepared for the first time via one-step pyrolysis of sodium citrate and cysteine. Possessing unique porous structure and large pore volume as well as good accessibility, N-S-PC demonstrates significantly improved electrocatalytic activity toward oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), and uric acid (UA). In the coexisting system, the peak potential separation between AA and DA is up to 251 mV, which is much larger than for most of the other carbons. On the basis of large potential separation and high current response, selective and sensitive simultaneous determination of AA, DA, and UA was successfully accomplished by differential pulse voltammetry, displaying a linear response from 50 to 2000 μM, from 0.1 to 50 μM, and from 0.1 to 50 μM with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.78, 0.02, and 0.06 μM. This work highlights the importance of N, S dual doping and hierarchical porous carbons for efficient catalysis.