Issue 79, 2015

Hollow microtubes made of carbon, boron and gold: novel semiconducting nanocomposite material for applications in electrochemistry and temperature sensing

Abstract

Carbon based nanocomposites have recently been intensively investigated as a new class of functional hybrid materials. Here, we present a procedure to obtain a new nanocomposite material made of carbon, boron and gold for applications in electrochemistry and electronics. The presented fabrication protocol uses cellulose fibers as a template that is first modified with an inorganic nanocomposite material consisting of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) embedded in a polyoxoborate matrix, and then is subjected to the process of thermal decomposition. The as obtained material has a form of tubes with a diameter of a couple of micrometers that are composed of carbonized cellulose coated with the polyoxoborate–AuNP nanocomposite. This inorganic shell, which covers the outer surface of the carbon microtubes, serves as a scaffold that makes the structure stable. The obtained material exhibits electrical properties of a semiconductor with the width of the band gap of about 0.6 eV, and forms Schottky contact with a metal electrode. We show that the new material is suitable for preparation of the NCT-type thermistor. We also demonstrate application of the new nanocomposite in electrochemistry for modification of the surface of a working electrode. Experiments carried out with three exemplary redox probes show that the electrochemical performance of the modified electrode depends greatly on the amount of AuNPs in the nanocomposite.

Graphical abstract: Hollow microtubes made of carbon, boron and gold: novel semiconducting nanocomposite material for applications in electrochemistry and temperature sensing

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Jun 2015
Accepted
20 Jul 2015
First published
20 Jul 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 64083-64090

Hollow microtubes made of carbon, boron and gold: novel semiconducting nanocomposite material for applications in electrochemistry and temperature sensing

J. Paczesny, K. Wybrańska, J. Niedziółka-Jönsson, E. Roźniecka, M. Wadowska, P. Zawal, I. Malka, I. Dzięcielewski, D. Prochowicz, R. Hołyst and M. Fiałkowski, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 64083 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA12146A

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