A simple nonenzymatic electrochemical protocol is proposed for the oxidation of aliphatic alcohols usingformed N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) radical cation on the graphene nanosheets/l-cysteine/cadmium tel-luride quantum dot (QD) nanocomposite (GNs/Cys/CdTe) modified glassy carbon (GC) electrode. At first, graphene oxide (GO) is chemically synthesized from graphite after which Cys is covalently functionalized to GO through formation of amide bonds between carboxylic acid groups of GO and amine groups of Cys.The resulting GNs/Cys is used as a capping agent to synthesize CdTe QD nanoparticles. After the characterization of the as-made nanocomposite which confirmed the successful attachment of CdTe nanoparticlesto the GNs, the ability of the GNs/Cys/CdTe modified GC electrode toward the nonenzymatic ethanol elec-trooxidation is examined in the presence of NHS as an effective mediating system. Our results revealed that the proposed system possess a good activity to NHS electrooxidation and subsequently, ethanoloxidation. Moreover, the GNs/Cys/CdTe modified electrode displayed a significant photoelectron catalytic activity toward the ethanol oxidation upon illumination by visible light. The photoactive GNs/Cys/CdTenanohybrid presented here showing favorable photo electrochemical features for nonenzymatic aliphaticalcohols oxidation may hold great promise to the development of electrochemical sensors and biofuelcells.
