PVA films were prepared through aqueous solution method, and boric acid (BA) as well as graphene oxide (GO) was added to improve the mechanical and thermal properties. It was found that 5 wt % BA could increase the tensile strength threefold (from 23.3 to 67.7 MPa), and the incorporation of 0.2 wt % GO would provide additional percentage growth of 30% (from 67.7 to 88.5 MPa). Moreover, an enhancement of thermal stability of PVA film was found when BA or GO filler was added. The reinforcement mechanisms of both BA and GO were investigated, and a competitive phenomenon that the addition of BA would influence the reinforcement effect of GO sheets was found.

Chloramphenicol (CAP) is a harmful compound associated with human hematopathy and neuritis, which was widely used as a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent in agriculture and aquaculture. Therefore, it is significant to detect CAP in aquatic environments. In this work, carbon nanotubes/silver nanowires (CNTs/AgNWs) composite electrodes were fabricated as the CAP sensor. Distinguished from in situ growing or chemical bonding noble metal nanomaterials on carbon, this CNTs/AgNWs composite was formed by simple solution blending. It was demonstrated that CNTs and AgNWs both contributed to the redox reaction of CAP in dynamics, and AgNWs was beneficial in thermodynamics as well. The proposed electrochemical sensor displayed a low detection limit of up to 0.08 μM and broad linear range of 0.1–100 μM for CAP. In addition, the CNTs/AgNWs electrodes exhibited good performance characteristics of repeatability and reproducibility, and proved suitable for CAP analysis in real water samples.

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