Ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for acetaminophen based on molybdenum/cobalt co-doped three-dimensional flower-like carbon framework

Acetaminophen (AP) is a commonly used antipyretic analgesic that plays an important role in relieving fever and pain. However, long-term or excessive use of AP will bring serious health problems, especially to aquatic organisms. Therefore, it is of great significance to establish an effective method for AP detection. In this work, metal molybdenum (Mo) was first introduced into the flaky zeolite imidazolium hydrochloride framework (ZIF-L). The composite was then pyrolyzed to obtain a Mo/Co co-doped flower-like carbon framework (Mo/Co-PCF) which was employed to fabricate an electrochemical sensor for acetaminophen detection. With the Mo ion, ZIF-L forms a cross-linked sheet structure, increasing the surface area and exposing more active points. After calcination, the enhancement of conductivity and the synergistic effect between the bimetallic ions endow Mo/Co-PCF with good electrochemical properties. Under optimized conditions, the prepared Mo/Co-PCF/GCE showed excellent electrocatalytic properties and high sensitivity to AP, with a linear range of 0.005–75 μM and LOD of 1.2 nM. Moreover, the proposed sensor also showed good selectivity and excellent repeatability, and reproducibility. The work provides an alternative method for AP detection in the field of drug detection and environmental water samples.