Hierarchical Co/N-doped carbon nanoflowers as efficient electrocatalysts for highly sensitive dopamine detection

In the study, we present a molten salt-assisted hard-templating strategy for synthesising cobalt and nitrogen-doped carbon nanoflowers (Co/N-CNFs) as high-performance electrocatalysts for highly sensitive and selective electrochemical dopamine detection. The hierarchical surface roughness and excellent conductivity of Co/N-CNFs, combined with their uniformly dispersed Co sites, facilitate exceptional electrocatalytic performance toward dopamine oxidation. Electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the Co/N-CNFs composite exhibited outstanding performance for dopamine sensing, featuring a broad linear response range from 1 to 1000 µM and an exceptionally low detection limit of 0.13 µM. Moreover, the sensor exhibited remarkable stability, excellent anti-interference capability, and high accuracy in actual sample analysis. The work presents an innovative design strategy for Co/N-doped carbon catalytic systems, enabling the detection of dopamine in spiked human serum samples.