Hierarchical Porous Graphene-Iron Carbide Hybrid Derived From Functionalized Graphene-Based Metal-Organic Gel as Efficient Electrochemical Dopamine Sensor.

A metal-organic gel (MOG) similar in constitution to MIL-100 (Fe) but containing a lower connectivity ligand (5-aminoisophthalate) was integrated with an isophthalate functionalized graphene (IG). The IG acted as a structure-directing templating agent, which also induced conductivity of the material. The MOG@IG was pyrolyzed at 600 degrees C to obtain MGH-600, a hybrid of Fe/Fe3C/FeO(x)enveloped by graphene. MGH-600 shows a hierarchical pore structure, with micropores of 1.1 nm and a mesopore distribution between 2 and 6 nm, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area amounts to 216 m(2)/g. Furthermore, the MGH-600 composite displays magnetic properties, with bulk saturation magnetization value of 130 emu/g at room temperature. The material coated on glassy carbon electrode can distinguish between molecules with the same oxidation potential, such as dopamine in presence of ascorbic acid and revealed a satisfactory limit of detection and limit of quantification (4.39 x 10(-7)and 1.33 x 10(-6)M, respectively) for the neurotransmitter dopamine.