Boron-doped carbon nanotubes with uniform boron doping and tunable dopant functionalities as an efficient electrocatalyst for dopamine oxidation reaction

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2017-09, Vol.248, p.288-297
• Main Authors: Li, Ta-Jen, Yeh, Min-Hsin, Chiang, Wei-Hung, Li, Yan-Sheng, Chen, Guan-Lin, Leu, Yow-An, Tien, Ta-Chang, Lo, Shen-Chuan, Lin, Lu-Yin, Lin, Jiang-Jen, Ho, Kuo-Chuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Boron; Carbon; Carbon nanotubes; Chemical sensors; Chemical vapor deposition; Dopamine; Dopants; Doping; Efficiency; Electrocatalysis; Electrocatalyst; Electrocatalysts; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemical sensor; Electron transfer; Heteroatom doping; Nanotubes; Oxidation; Substitution reactions; Synthesis
• ISSN: 0925-4005; 1873-3077
• DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2017.03.118

[Display omitted] •Boron-doped carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) act as an electrocatalyst for dopamine sensing.•BCNTs were synthesized by an atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition.•Good distribution of BCNTs was obtained by a solution substitution reaction.•B atoms act as the active sites by transferring charges to the neighboring C atoms.•Electrocatalytic activity of CNTs is increased significantly by doping B atom. An atmospheric pressure, solution-assisted substitution process has been developed to produce boron-doped carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) with tunable boron dopant concentrations precisely from atomic percent of 0.4–3.9% by controlling the reaction conditions. The systematic material characterizations and detailed electrochemical sensor applications were studied. The electrochemical detection of dopamine (DA) can be improved by the enhanced electrocatalytic activity and reduced electron transfer resistance of BCNTs due to the boron doping. The effects of boron dopant concentrations on the electrocatalytic activity and electron transfer resistance of the BCNTs were investigated thoroughly in this study. It was found experimentally that the anodic peak current density (ipa) of DA is the highest (169.6±8.9μAcm−2) on the BCNTs (B 2.1 at.%) modified screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE). In this study, we have successfully developed a highly efficient and tunable synthesis of BCNTs in bulk quantities as the potential electrocatalysts for DA oxidation reaction. Also, it is noteworthy from a practical point of view that the developed atmospheric-pressure BCNTs synthesis method is amenable to industrial-scale production since it avoids the need for a vacuum system.