| Biosensors, especially in the field of detecting neurotransmitters, have attractedmore and more attention of researchers in recent years. During the past several years,different kinds of methods have been developed to detect neurotransmitters. Amongthose methods, voltammetric techniques have attracted more and more interest formany researchers due to its quick and high response for the electrochemical oxidationof neurotransmitters. Besides, the low costs of voltammetric techniques also make itwidely-used in many fields. As we all know, the voltammetric methods mainly dependon the chemical modification of traditional electrode materials. So it is still the key tofind or develop new materials to enhance the accuracy and sensitivity of voltammetrictechniques. Moreover, today’s world is experiencing acute energy shortage. Sodeveloping new, clean and environmentally friendly energy is extremely urgent. Asone of the most important alternative energy carriers, hydrogen is considered to beone of the best candidates to satisfy the demand for future energy crisis. However, thewide usage of hydrogen is restricted by the deficiencies of reliable H2generation andstorage methods. Though many hydrogen storage materials have been existed, theoperation conditions to release the H2are still strict. So developing catalysts withnontoxicity, good stability at room temperature, easy storage and the kinetic propertiesunder moderate conditions is extremely significant.One dimensional (1D) nanomaterials have attracted much attention owing to theirspecial properties. In the past few years, electrospinning technique has been exploitedto be a simple and versatile method to produce one dimensional nanofibers due to its simple device, low costs and proven technique. For electrochemical detection, onedimensional nanofibers can improve the flow of electrons so that the accuracy andsensitivity can be increased. For the chemical catalysts, the unique characteristics suchas the small size and the high surface-to-volume ratio can increase the response areaand catalytic sites. Meanwhile, the film property of nanofibers makes the catalystsbeen easily recycled.In this article, the electrospinning technique is used to prepare metal/inorganicmaterials and metal/organic materials composite nanofibers, which have also beenused in the electrochemical oxidation of dopamine (DA) and the catalysis of hydrogengeneration for the first time, respectively. The details are presented as follows:1. The fabrication of composite nanofibers composed of ceramic and metalcomponents combines the electrospinning and annealing treatment, which can be as agood electrochemical sensor. Gold nanoparticles have good conductivity,electrocatalytic stability and biocompatibility. Meanwhile, CeO2nanoparticles arenon-toxic, stable and have low grain-boundary resistance, high conductivity.Therefore, CeO2/Au composite nanofibers showed that they had excellent properties.In application to determination of DA, the glass carbon electrode (GCE) which wasmodified by the CeO2/Au composite nanofibers exhibited a high sensitivity (127A·mM1·cm2) with a low detection limit (0.056M) when SNR is3. Besides, it canalso clearly see from the CV curves that the reaction process is controlled by diffusionvelocity. The method provides a new way to develop new electrochemical sensor forDA.2. We have successfully fabricated PAN/Ag/Pd composite nanofibers byelectrospinning process and microwave reduction and put them for the catalysis ofhydrogen generation of NH3BH3for the first time. Firstly, we prepared PAN/Agnanofibers by microwave heating the electrospun PAN/AgNO3nanofibers. Then, thePAN/Ag/Pd nanofibers were achieved by a galvanic replacement reaction between Agnanoparticles on the surface of PAN nanofibers and Na2PdCl4. The as-preparedPAN/Ag/Pd composite nanofibers exhibited good recycle stability, easy-separationfrom the reaction system and an excellent catalytic performance toward H2generationfrom aqueous solution of AB with turnover frequency (TOF) of377.2mol H2·h-1·(molPd)-1. Meanwhile, the most significant advantage of the PAN/Ag/Pd composite nanofibers as catalyst for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of AB was that it couldalmost keep the network and the same high activity even after five times of recycling.This new kind of nanofibers possesses great potential application for the new cleanenergy development. |
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