In this study, a nonaqueous method for the synthesis of size-controlled highly crystalline zinc ferrite/reduced graphene oxide (ZFO/rGO) aerogel was provided by using the benzyl alcohol as medium. In our findings, benzyl alcohol was introduced not only as the solvent, but also as structure-directing agent and strong reducing agent during the nucleation and growth of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles. The characterization analysis indicated that ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were immobilized on the multilayer reduced graphene oxide with controllable size of 12 nm. Moreover, the three-dimensional ZFO/rGO aerogel show excellent electrochemical as a facile electrochemical sensor for the detection of p-nitrophenol (p-NP). The ZFO/rGO electrochemical sensing offers the advantages of wide linear range (1-500 μmol/L), excellent sensitivity (23.985 mA mM-1 cm-2), good stability and selectivity (<8.8%). In addition, the possible reaction mechanism of three-dimensional ZFO/rGO aerogel was explained during the detection process under acidic condition. Significantly, our results not only provided an insight into the possible reaction mechanism of 3D ZFO/rGO nanocomposite, but also proposed the way for the synthesis of highly crystalline materials through a benzyl alcohol-mediated method.

中文翻译：

---

铁酸锌/还原氧化石墨烯气凝胶的尺寸可控合成：对硝基苯酚的高效电化学传感

在这项研究中，提供了一种以苯甲醇为介质合成尺寸可控的高结晶铁酸锌/还原氧化石墨烯 (ZFO/rGO) 气凝胶的非水方法。在我们的研究结果中，苯甲醇不仅作为溶剂，而且在 ZnFe2O4 纳米颗粒的成核和生长过程中作为结构导向剂和强还原剂被引入。表征分析表明，ZnFe2O4 纳米颗粒固定在多层还原氧化石墨烯上，可控尺寸为 12 nm。此外，三维 ZFO/rGO 气凝胶显示出优异的电化学性能，可作为检测对硝基苯酚 (p-NP) 的简便电化学传感器。ZFO/rGO 电化学传感具有线性范围宽 (1-500 μmol/L)、出色的灵敏度 (23.985 mA mM-1 cm-2)、良好的稳定性和选择性（<8.8%）。此外，在酸性条件下的检测过程中解释了三维ZFO/rGO气凝胶可能的反应机理。重要的是，我们的结果不仅提供了对 3D ZFO/rGO 纳米复合材料可能的反应机制的洞察，而且还提出了通过苯甲醇介导的方法合成高结晶材料的方法。