Electrochemical Synthesis of NiAu Bimetallic Nanostrips and Their Application for Hydrazine Detection

NiAu bimetallic nanostrips with nearly monodispersed structure were synthesized through a one-step electrodeposition method with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) involved as the stabilizer and Ni(NO3)2 and HAuCl4 with a molar ration of 1:1 as the precursor. The morphology of as-prepared NiAu bimetallic nanomaterials with different Ni/Au molar rations were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resultant NiAu bimetallic nanostrips showed good electrocatalytic activities toward hydrazine oxidation. Various parameters including Ni/Au molar rations, CTAB concentration and solution pH affecting the performance of NiAu bimetallic nanomaterials toward hydrazine detection were investigated. Under optimized conditions, NiAu bimetallic nanostrips based electrochemical hydrazine sensor has a linear response in the concentration range of 0.5 to 1665 pM, a lower detection limit of 0.1 pM and high detection sensitivity (1007 pA mM -1 cm -2 ). Most common ions and many environmental organic species do not interfere with the detection of hydrazine.