Selective and simultaneous determination of hydroquinone and catechol by using a nitrogen-doped bagasse activated carbon modified electrode

A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with a nitrogen-doped activated carbon derived from sugarcane bagasse (NDSBAC) was prepared for the selective and simultaneous determination of hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC). The NDSBAC was obtained via KOH-urea activated method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to survey the surface morphology , adsorption properties and chemical compositions of NDSBAC, respectively. The anodic peak potential between HQ and CC is 112 ± 3 mV ( vs . Ag/AgCl) at NDSBAC/GCE. The anode peak currents of HQ and CC depend linearly on their respective concentrations. NDSBAC/GCE shows wide linear ranges of 0.5–300.0 μM for both HQ and CC. The detection limits are 0.11 μM for HQ and 0.09 μM for CC. The recoveries of HQ and CC are 92.1%–109.5% and 98.0%–104.3%, respectively, in the testing of the spiked lake water.