In
this study,
Liquidambar formosana
tree
leaves have been used as a renewable biomass precursor for
preparing porous carbons (PCs). The PCs were produced by pyrolysis
of natural waste of leaves after 10% KOH activation under a nitrogen
atmosphere and characterized by a variety of state-of-the-art techniques.
The PCs possess a large surface area, micro-/mesoporosity, and functional
groups on its surface. A glassy carbon electrode modified with high
PCs was explored as an efficient binder-free electrocatalyst material
for the voltammetric determination of nitro isomers such as 3-nitroaniline
(3-NA) and 4-nitroaniline (4-NA). Under optimal experimental conditions,
the electrochemical detection of 3-NA and 4-NA was found to have a
wide linear range of 0.2–115.6 and 0.5–120 μM
and a low detection limit of 0.0551 and 0.0326 μM, respectively,
with appreciable selectivity. This route not only enhanced the benefit
from biomass wastes but also reduced the cost of producing electrode
materials for electrochemical sensors. Additionally, the sensor was
successfully applied in the determination of nitro isomers even in
the presence of other common electroactive interference and real samples
analysis (beverage and pineapple jam solutions). Therefore, the proposed
method is simple, rapid, stable, sensitive, specific, reproducible,
and cost-effective and can be applicable for real sample detection.