Langmuir, Vol.26, No.19, 15112-15116, 2010
Supramolecular Microfibrils of o-Phenylenediamine Dimers: Oxidation-Induced Morphology Change and the Spontaneous Formation of Ag Nanoparticle Decorated Nanofibers
The direct mix of aqueous FeCl3 and o-phenylenediamine (OPD) solutions at room temperature leads to supramolecular microfibrils of OPD dimers generated by the oxidation of OPD monomers by FeCl3 (Sun, X.; Hagner, M. Langmuir 2007, 23, 10441). In this Letter, we report on our recent finding that the subsequent treatment of such microfibrils with a AgNO3 aqueous solution transforms them into nanofibers decorated with spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with sizes in range of 5-20 nm. The possible formation mechanism involved is also discussed. It is interestingly found that as-formed AgNPs exhibit good catalytic activity toward the reduction of H2O2, leading to an enzymeless sensor with a fast amperometric response time of less than 5 s. The linear detection range is estimated to be from 100 mu M to 80 mu M (r = 0.998), and the detection limit is estimated to be 62 mu M at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.