Simplified synthesis of N-doped carbon nanotube arrayed mesoporous carbon for electrochemical detection of amitrole

Highlights: • Simplified synthesis of N-doped CMK-5 (N-CMK-5) carbon with a nanocasting route. • Both N doping and double pore structure are beneficial to the activity of N-CMK-5. • N-CMK-5 carbon showed good electrochemical sensing property for pesticide amitrole. N-doped carbon nanopipe-arrayed mesoporous carbon (N-CMK-5) with double-pore system, large surface area (992 m²/g), and high nitrogen amount (5.2 at.%) was synthesized by a simplified template route. In this route, mesoporous silica was directly used instead of using time-consuming aluminosilicate as a template and the carbonization process occurred in a nitrogen atmosphere instead of a vacuum. Furthermore, CMK-3, N-doped CMK-3, and CMK-5 ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) were compared with the as-prepared N-doped CMK-5 (N-CMK-5) to investigate the effect of microstructure on the electrochemical activity of OMCs. N-CMK-5 exhibited higher electrochemical activity than the other OMCs because it has more exposed defective sites and nitrogen active species. The developed N-CMK-5-based electrochemical sensor showed good practical application for the electrochemical detection of pesticide amitrole in real water sample. This work contributes a simplified route to synthesize tubular N-CMK-5 carbon and provides valuable information on the design of high-performance carbon electrode materials.