Cellulose-derived hierarchical porous carbon based electrochemical sensor for simultaneous detection of catechol and hydroquinone

Cellulose, which is one of the main components of wood biomass, was carbonized and activated by KOH to prepare a hierarchical porous carbon. This biomass derived carbon was successfully utilized as an effective sensor’s material for simultaneously determine hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC) through cyclic voltammetry and amperometry techniques. The resulting sensor exhibited wide linear ranges for HQ (0.5–3000 μmol/L) and CC (1–3000 μmol/L), with the detection limits of HQ (0.47 μmol/L) and CC (0.4 μmol/L) by amperometry technique, respectively. In addition, the prepared sensor also possesses good performances including specific selectivity, long lifetime and good applicability. The practical application in domestic lake water samples with satisfied recoveries implies the proposed sensor is promising. These results demonstrate that cellulose containing biomass have potential as an effective precursor of porous carbon materials and are applicable on various electrochemical sensors.