A sensitive electrochemical chlorophenols sensor based on nanocomposite of ZnSe quantum dots and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide

Abstract

In this work, a very sensitive and simple electrochemical sensor for chlorophenols (CPs) based on a nanocomposite of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and ZnSe quantum dots (ZnSe–CTAB) through electrostatic self-assembly technology was built for the first time. The composite of ZnSe–CTAB introduced a favorable access for the electron transfer and gave superior electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of CPs than ZnSe QDs and CTAB alone. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used for the quantitative determination of the CPs including 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Under the optimum conditions, the peak currents of the CPs were proportional to their concentrations in the range from 0.02 to 10.0μM for 2-CP, 0.006 to 9.0μM for 2,4-DCP, and 0.06 to 8.0 for PCP. The detection limits were 0.008μM for 2-CP, 0.002μM for 2,4-DCP, and 0.01μM for PCP, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of CPs in waste water with satisfactory recoveries. This ZnSe–CTAB electrode system provides operational access to design environment-friendly CPs sensors.