Mn3O4–CeO2 Hollow Nanospheres for Electrochemical Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide

Introducing hollow structure by self-assembly and hard-templating methods enables the increase of specific surface areas and reaction sites toward boosting the electrochemical sensing performance of the manganese oxide-based materials. In this work, a strategy of synthesizing Mn3O4–CeO2 with nanosized hollow spheres was developed by employing cerium oxide as the support skeleton for a superior catalyzing effect toward hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) electroreduction. Herein, the effect of molar ratios of Ce and Mn on the structure and electrocatalytic property of synthesized Mn3O4–CeO2 hollow nanospheres was investigated. Profiting from abundant active sites, high porosity, large specific surface area, and the synergy of Mn3O4 and CeO2, the resulting Mn3O4–CeO2 hollow nanospheres display a wide linear range response (0.005–17 mM) with high sensitivity (176.4 μA mM–1 cm–2) for H2O2 determination. The developed sensor shows excellent stability, selectivity, and recovery for detecting H2O2 in actual samples. This work finds an efficient way to construct hollow structure through self-assembly on a hard-templating surface, providing special insight into the electrochemical properties of transition-metal oxides.