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The development of accurate, reliable and low cost devices for glucose detection is one of the most important scientific and technological hotspots. In this study, we proposed a unique one-step thermal synthesis strategy to synthesize nickel (Ni) nanoparticles modified graphene (GE) sheets by using metal-oleate complex as the precursor and sodium sulfate as a template. With the assistance of sodium sulfate particles, Ni nanoparticles with particle size of about 99.2 nm were homogenously anchored on graphene nanosheets in the product. The electrochemical behavior of the nanocomposite towards enzyme-free glucose oxidation was investigated systematically by cyclic voltammetry and amperometric measurements. The results reveal that the GE/Ni nanocomposite exhibited excellent electrocatalytic response to glucose with a wide linear range of 0.01–2.5 mM, a low detection limit of 0.79 μM, and a high sensitivity of 388.4 μA mM −1 cm −2 . In addition, no significant interference was observed from potential interference species. The simple, efficient and scalable synthesis and the excellent catalytic performance endow the GE/Ni nanocomposite great potential application in enzymeless glucose detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visible-light-driven photocatalysis as a green technology has attracted intense interest due to its potential applications in environmental remediation. However, the poor visible light utilization and low electron-hole separation efficiency of photocatalysts largely limited their practical application. In this work, a new ternary visible-light driven photocatalyst of g-C 3 N 4 /CDs/AgBr has been prepared by the introduction of carbon dots (CDs) onto the surface of g-C 3 N 4 , followed by in-situ growth of AgBr nanoparticles on CDs-modified g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets. The g-C 3 N 4 /CDs/AgBr nanocomposite exhibits excellent photocatalytic efficiency for organic pollutant degradation, which is about 4.0, 5.3 and 2.3 times higher than that of AgBr, g-C 3 N 4 and g-C 3 N 4 /AgBr, respectively. The result indicates the introduction of CDs into g-C 3 N 4 /AgBr can largely improve the photocatalytic activity since CDs act as the light absorber and the electron mediator between g-C 3 N 4 and AgBr, which effectively promote the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and the utilization of visible light. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of g-C 3 N 4 /CDs/AgBr has no obvious decrease after four photodegradation cycles, demonstrating a high photocatalytic stability. This study highlights the potential application of highly efficient CDs decorated photocatalysts in waste water purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]