Nitrophenols are important chemicals widely used and caused toxic effects on living beings. Here we developed a facile method to prepare CuPd/C catalyst for both m-nitrophenol sensitive detection (1 mu M) and electrocatalytic reduction in a wide range from 100 to 10000 mu M. The CuPd nanoparticles was synthesized by controlled coreduction of Cu and Pd salts in oleylamine and dispersed on carbon black to produce CuPd/C catalysts. The CuPd/C catalyst was subsequently modified on glassy carbon electrode both as the detection sensor and to investigate electrocatalytic reduction of m-nitrophenol. The sensitivity on the CuPd/C modified electrode (CuPd/C/GCE) was much higher than that on the GCE or commercial Pd/C modified electrode (Pd/C/GCE). The CuPd/C nanomaterial shows excellent m-nitrophenol sensing capability, including low detection limit, wide linear range, high reproducibility and stability. That makes it a unique electrochemical sensor for the detection of m-nitrophenol. The influence of m-nitrophenol concentration on the electrocatalytic ability of the CuPd/C/GCE was studied, and the reduction mechanism of m-nitrophenol is also presented. (C) 2016 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.