A facile one-pot synthesis of carbon nitride dots-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for simultaneous enhanced detecting of dopamine and uric acid.

In this study, we described the facile synthesis of carbon nitride dots-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (CNDs-rGO) and their application for the enhanced electrochemical determination of dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA). CNDs-rGO were synthesized for the first time through a green and facile one-step approach, carried out by hydrothermal heat-treatment of an aqueous solution containing GO and chitosan without introduction of other reducing agents or surface modifier. Then, the morphology and composition of CNDs-rGO nanocomposites were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. TEM observations revealed that CNDs with a size of about 5.0 nm were homogeneously and densely distributed on the surface of rGO. Electrochemical investigations indicated that CNDs-rGO nanocomposites exhibited an excellent performance toward DA and UA. The linear range for DA was estimated to be from 80 nM to 227 μM with a sensitivity of 154.3 μA mM(-1) cm(-2) and a low detection limit of 0.03 μM. Meanwhile, the linear range for UA was estimated to be from 80 nM to 328 μM with a high sensitivity of 178.1 μA mM(-1) cm(-2) and a low detection limit of 0.05 μM. Therefore, CNDs-rGO nanocomposites showed great application potential for constructing electrochemical sensors for the detection of DA and UA.