Cauliflower polyaniline/multiwalled carbon nanotube electrode and its applications to hydrogen peroxide and glucose detection*

Abstract

Vertically aligned polyaniline (PANI) structures were prepared by controlling the deposition current density during a stepwise template-free electrochemical deposition process of aniline on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) showed the formation of cauliflower PANI structures, each with a diameter of approximately 2–3 and 10 μm in length. The cauliflower-like PANI electrode was modified with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (cauliflower PANI/MWCNTs) and used as the working electrode for electrochemical detections where H2O2 and glucose were used as the models for the chemical sensor and biosensor, respectively. The sensor provided linearity in the range of 1.0 to 150 μM of H2O2 with the limit of detection (LOD) of 50 nM. This is 100-fold better than the LOD of the bare GCE. Moreover, this sensor exhibited remarkable operational stability, i.e., 50 μM H2O2 could be analyzed up to 140 times with a 2.7 % relative standard deviation (RSD). A glucose biosensor was prepared using the modified cauliflower PANI/MWCNT electrode. This had a 3.4 times higher sensitivity than an electrode modified with PANI film/MWCNTs. The regular size and high surface-to-volume ratio of the cauliflower PANI electrode will provide good opportunities for further biosensor applications.