Hydrothermally derived reduced and hierarchically porous biochar for rapid and sensitive electrochemical detection of benzo[a]pyrene

Benzo[ a ]pyrene (BaP), as a typical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon , is severely hazardous to human for having great carcinogenic and teratogenic activities. Here, we propose a cascade electrochemical reaction-based BaP detection method by using novel synthesized reduced and hierarchically porous biochar (RP-BC) as conductive and analysts binding material. The RP-BC was synthesized by green hydrothermal reduction of sugarcane derived biochar, which was demonstrated to have huge specific surface area with hierarchically porous structures, great content of sp 2 carbon, and fast electron transfer ability. The RP-BC film coated on glassy carbon electrode could preferentially adsorb and enrich BaP by strong π-π electron donor-acceptor (EDA) interaction and pore interception effect, so fast (5 min) and selective detection of BaP was achieved. Moreover, the low detection limit was 0.090 nmol·mL −1 with linear range being 0.32 to 80 nmol·mL −1 . In addition, the detection of BaP in groundwater and tap water was realized with satisfactory results, suggesting the potential of practical environmental monitoring.