An Electrochemical Sensor for Selective Detection of p-Aminophenol Using Hemin-Graphene Composites and Molecularly Imprinted Polymer

Abstract

Due to their specific recognition ability and high physical stability, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been widely used for fabrication of electrochemical sensors with high selectivity. In the present work, we fabricated a novel electrochemical sensor for selective detection of p-aminophenol (p-AP) by modifying glass carbon electrode (GCE) with hemin-graphene (HG) composites and MIP. The morphology and FT-IR spectra of the prepared MIP were characterized and the electrochemical property of modified electrodes was investigated. The results indicated that HG composites promoted the cathodic peak current signal of p-AP while the p-AP-binding MIP was able to selectively accumulate the analyte on the electrode surface. Under optimized conditions, the cathodic peak current of the fabricated sensor increased linearly with the concentration of p-AP in the range from 0.3 ∼25 μM with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.06 μM. Moreover, the developed sensor exhibited high selectivity and good reproducibility for p-AP detection.