Graphene / MOFs composites can be applied to high-performance electrochemical sensing, which is a manifestation of technological progress.
Because of their unique structural characteristics such as large specific surface area, adjustable pore structure, and high porosity, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown extraordinary application potential in the field of electrochemical sensing.
In recent years, as researchers have compounded metal-organic frameworks with other materials, such as metal nanoparticles, porous carbon, and carbon nanotubes, this method has proven to be an effective way to improve electrochemical performance. The synergistic effects of graphene / MOFs composites have attracted the attention of researchers. It is known from the data that the graphene / MOFs composites currently use reduced oxides prepared by chemical stripping as the base material, and there are many defects, such as a large number of toxic chemical reagents, dangerous preparation environments, and cumbersome operations.
Against this background, two domestic universities have jointly developed a ball mill method for preparing graphene / MOFs composites. Compared with chemical stripping method, this method is more simple and convenient. In addition, a large amount of research by the scientific research team has confirmed that graphene prepared by physical stripping has more excellent electrochemical sensing performance.
In this research process, researchers obtained high-quality graphene nanosheets (GS) by ball milling. With the support of graphene nanosheets, copper ions were adsorbed on the surface of GS as nucleation sites for MOFs. Next, the ligand trimesic acid (H3BTC) was added to uniformly load the nano-scale Cu-BTC particles on the GS surface, thereby obtaining a Cu-BTC @ GS complex. The study found that, compared with GS, Cu-BTC @ GS composites have larger specific surface area, higher porosity, and stronger electron transfer ability. In addition, the Cu-BTC @ GS complex has significantly improved the adsorption capacity and reactivity of small biomolecules and phenolic pollutants, resulting in a higher response signal and sensitivity.
Based on the significant synergy between GS and Cu-BTC nanoparticles grown in situ, researchers have constructed a highly sensitive electrochemical sensing platform and successfully applied it to the detection of a variety of practical samples, such as plasma, electronic tickets, Environmental sewage and other aspects. The design and construction of graphene / MOFs composite materials provide new ideas for researchers and help the development of high-performance electrochemical sensing systems.