Molecular-scale cage-confinement pyrolysis route to size-controlled molybdenum carbide nanoparticles for electrochemical sensor

Herein, size-controllable molybdenum carbide nanoparticles (Mo₂C NPs) encapsulated by N, P-codoped carbon shells which simultaneously wrapping on the surface of carbon nanotube (Mo₂C@NPC/CNT) is synthesized through a molecular-scale cage-confinement pyrolysis route. Such confinement achieves a good coating and protection of Mo₂C and the effective control over the size of Mo₂C NPs ranging from 2.5 to 10 nm facilitates a rational investigation into their electrochemical sensor behavior at nanometer scales. The optimized structure consisting of Mo₂C nanoparticles with size of ~5 nm showed an outstanding electrochemical response toward dopamine (DA) and acetaminophen (AC) with detection limits (S/N = 3) of 0.008 μM for AC and 0.01 μM for DA.