In
this work, we introduce our recent finding that the carbon fiber
paper (CFP) treated by simple air annealing (OCFP) could be used for
exceptionally high-performance electrochemical nitrite sensing. The
air-annealing process endows the pristine CFP with higher defective
edge/plane sites, more oxygen-containing functional groups, higher
roughness, and improved wettability. The electrochemical studies show
that the OCFP exhibits excellent sensing performance for nitrite,
with an ultralow determination limit of 0.1 μM and a detection
limit of 0.07 μM, an ultrawide linear determination range of
0.1–3838.5 μM, a fast current response of 1 s, and a
high sensitivity of 930.4 μA mM–1 cm–2. These performance values are comparable or even superior to those
for most reported noble- or transition-metal-based advanced nitrite
sensors. Besides, this electrode also presents satisfactory stability,
reproducibility, and feasibility of nitrite sensing in food samples.
As an ideal monolithic and metal-free catalyst with ultrahigh and
stable detection performance, the OCFP has a high potential to be
integrated into next-generation electrochemical sensing devices.