Fabrication of Prussian blue nanocubes through reducing a single-source precursor with graphene oxide and their electrocatalytic activity for H2O2

We first reported a new method to prepare Prussian blue (PB) nanocubes through reducing a single-source precursor with graphene oxide (GO). By mixing GO and K3Fe(CN)6 at 80 °C for 3 h, K3Fe(CN)6 was reduced by GO and this resulted in the formation of PB nanocubes with average size of 200 nm on GO surfaces. The obtained PB–GO nanocomposites were characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. Effects of the mass ratio of K3Fe(CN)6 to GO, and the reaction time on PB nanocubes were investigated. Electrochemical experiments demonstrated that the prepared PB–GO nanocomposites exhibited good electrochemical properties. The PB–GO-modified electrodes also showed good electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of hydrogen peroxide and the current response to the concentration of H2O2 had a good linear range from 0.5 μM to 1.0 mM (R2 = 0.997) with a detection limit of 0.4 μM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. This method provided a novel, simple, and low-cost route for fabrication of PB nanocubes and PB–GO nanocomposites.