Au-doped nanostructured TiO2/C material derived from MIL-125 as a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for ferulic acid

An Au-doped nanostructured TiO2/C material was synthesized by a facile approach via calcination of Ti-based metal-organic-framework (MIL-125) with Au-doped from HAuCl4 and was used to fabricate a modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for detection of ferulic acid (FA). The composition and morphology of TiO2/C/Au were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The redox properties were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Under optimized conditions, the reported sensor not only exhibited high selectivity, but also showed a wide linear range over FA concentrations from 0 to 20.0 mu M with a low detection limit of 1.6 x 10(-8 )mol/L, attributed to advantageously high electron transfer efficiency.