Effective and rapid electrochemical detection of hydrazine by nanoporous gold

Nanoporous gold (NPG) membranes prepared by dealloying AgAu alloys in concentrated nitric acid towards hydrazine electrochemical oxidation were studied. Compared with bulk gold, NPG shows not only the enhanced current but also the lower overpotential of hydrazine oxidation. The diffusion coefficient of hydrazine was examined to be 1.65 × 10−5 cm2 s−1 using chronoamperometry. In addition, it can be found that the behavior of hydrazine oxidation on NPG depends strongly on the pH value of the solution. A detection limit of 16.7 nM hydrazine can be determined by high sensitive NPG. These results indicate that NPG can be employed to be as an efficient electrode material of electrochemical sensors for hydrazine detection in solution.