Electrodeposition of chitosan enables synthesis of copper/carbon composites for H2O2 sensing

This work presents a novel approach in synthesizing copper (Cu)/carbon composite materials by electrodeposition of the biopolymer chitosan, a renewable carbon precursor, on a copper anode, followed by pyrolysis of the electrodeposited chitosan gel. The amount of copper in the Cu/carbon composite material can be controlled by modifying the pH of the chitosan solution from which the electrodeposition is performed. This further influences the physical properties of the composite material. Here we show a 14 fold increase in electrical conductivity of the Cu/carbon composite, when compared to the material without copper inclusions. Metal/carbon composite materials have a wide range of applications already reported in the literature. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate the electrochemical sensing capability of this Cu/carbon material for non-enzymatic detection of hydrogen peroxide, achieving a sensitivity of 58.9 μA/mM cm², which is comparable to state of the art non-enzymatic hydrogen peroxide sensors. The anodic electrodeposition of chitosan proves to be a simple and straightforward medium for synthesis of Cu/carbon composites. We speculate that this method can be extended to obtain other metal/carbon composites as a low-cost alternative for the fabrication of functional composite electrodes.