Mesoporous Carbon and Ceria Nanoparticles Composite Modified Electrode for the Simultaneous Determination of Hydroquinone and Catechol

In this work, a novel material that was based on mesoporous carbon and ceria nanoparticles composite (MC–CeNPs) was synthesized, and a modified electrode was fabricated. When compared with a bare glass electrode, the modified electrode exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards the simultaneous determination of hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC), which is attributed to the large specific area and fast electron transfer ability of MC–CeNPs. Additionally, it exhibited linear response ranges in the concentrations of 0.5–500 µM and 0.4–320 µM for HQ and CC, with detection limits (S/N = 3) of 0.24 µM and 0.13 µM, respectively. This method also displayed good stability and reproducibility. Furthermore, the modified electrode was applied to the simultaneous determination of HQ and CC in tap and lake water samples, and it exhibited satisfactory recovery levels of 98.5–103.2% and 98–103.4% for HQ and CC, respectively. All of these results indicate that a MC–CeNPs modified electrode could be a candidate for the determination of HQ and CC.