Graphene composite coated carbon fiber: electrochemical synthesis and application in electrochemical sensing

Abstract

A universal method for the fabrication of graphene composite modified carbon fiber is reported. This method contains two consecutive electrochemical steps. Firstly, the compact and corrugated graphene film is coated onto the carbon fiber (graphene coated carbon fiber, GCF) by electrochemically reducing graphene oxide (GO) dispersion followed by drying in air. Subsequently, the second components are electrochemically deposited on the graphene film, forming the graphene composite modified carbon fiber. The amount of both the graphene and the second components can be easily controlled by the electrochemical parameters. Double salt/GCF, noble metal nanoparticles/GCF, conducting polymer/GCF and layered double hydroxide/GCF were successfully prepared, suggesting the versatility of this method. The PB/GCF showed a good electro-catalytic activity towards H₂O₂ and can be used in the detection of H₂O₂ with a wide linear range from 10 to 1310 μM and high sensitivity of 2.2 mA cm⁻² mM⁻¹. This method developed here may open a new way to the fabrication of high performance CF-based electrochemical microsensors.