In-situ construction of porous carbon on embedded N-doped MXene nanosheets composite for simultaneous determination of 4-aminophenol and Acetaminophen

A novel MXene/MOF derivative N-Ti 3 C 2 /PC composite was successfully synthesized through in-situ nucleation and conversion of ZIF-8 on 2D hierarchical Ti 3 C 2 MXene nanosheets. Due to the insertion of ZIF-8, the restacking of Ti 3 C 2 nanosheets was effectively avoided, thus its electrochemical properties was significantly improved. The obtained N-Ti 3 C 2 /PC composite was constructed for the detection of 4-aminophenol (4-AP) and acetaminophen (ACOP) simultaneously. The results showed that the as-fabricated electrochemical sensor owned excellent electrocatalytic activity for 4-AP and ACOP, which was attributed to the synergistic effect of N-Ti 3 C 2 and PC that accelerating the electron transfer on the electrode surface. Under optimum experimental conditions, the linear detection range was 1–150 μM for 4-AP and ACOP. The detection limits (LODs) for 4-AP and ACOP were evaluated to be 0.059 μM and 0.050 μM (signal-to-noise ratios, S/N = 3) respectively. Furthermore, the N-Ti 3 C 2 /PC electrochemical sensor was employed to determine 4-AP and ACOP in industrial wastewater and paracetamol tablets, and satisfying recoveries were obtained. Consequently, the N-Ti 3 C 2 /PC composite is expected to have a wide range of applications in electrochemical for detecting of environmental pollutants.