Metal-organic framework derived rod-like Co@carbon for electrochemical detection of nitrite

Low-dimensional (LD) materials show great potential in sensing applications due to their attractive properties. Herein, Co@N-doped carbon nanorods (CoN-CRs) were prepared via the pyrolysis of a rod-like Co-ZIF-L precursor, which was synthesized using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The fabricated CoN-CRs were characterized by a series of techniques, and their electrochemical sensing behavior towards nitrite was subsequently evaluated. Compared with Co@N-doped carbon sheets (CoN-CSs), CoN-CRs exhibited enhanced performance for nitrite detection due to their higher surface area and more accessible active sites. Under optimized conditions, the CoN-CRs-based sensor was able to determine nitrite concentration in two linear ranges (0.5–4000 and 4000–8000 μM), with corresponding sensitivity values of 1.03 μA μM −1 cm −2 and 0.82 μA μM −1 cm −2 , respectively, and a detection limit of 0.17 μM. Moreover, this sensor exhibited good selectivity, stability and reproducibility, and provided satisfactory feasibility for the analysis of nitrite in sausage samples and tap water. This work demonstrates that CoN-CRs are promising sensing materials for nitrite monitoring.