Construction of electrocatalyst based on in-situ growth silver nanoparticles into hollow porous carbon spheres for hydrogen peroxide detection

Considering the natural characteristic and wide application of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), it is great urgency to design superior electrocatalysts for high-performance determination of H 2 O 2 . Herein, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) embedded into metal–organic frameworks derived hollow porous carbon spheres (HPCS) were successfully constructed and used as a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor. In this architecture, HPCS consisting of continuous hollow carbon bubbles show a highly ordered porous structure between the shells, which can not only provide a large surface area for embedding small size AgNPs and facilitating H 2 O 2 penetration, but also process remarkable electronic conductivity to facilitate the electrochemical redox reaction. The constructed sensor offers a wide linear range of 5 orders magnitude from 0.004 to 17 mM with a detection limit of 0.188 µM and a sensitivity of 637 μA mM −1  cm −2 for H 2 O 2 , as well as good selectivity, excellent reproducibility and long-term stability due to a synergistic effect between HPCS and AgNPs, which guarantees the capability, accuracy and reliability of detection H 2 O 2 in the real disinfectant sample. This work could provide an effective load matrix for encapsulating nanoparticles into hollow carbon bubbles, which examined as a superior electrocatalyst for hydrogen peroxide detection platform, showing a great potential for further application in various fields.