Electrochemical determination of bisphenol A based on PHD/MWCNTs modified glassy carbon electrode

Abstract

A novel electrochemical sensor for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) was fabricated by block polyelectrolyte composite films, which composed of diblock polyelectrolyte poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-b-poly (2-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA-b-PDMAEMA, noted as PHD in the later content) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The tertiary amino groups of PDMAEMA can be protonated at physiological pH. The protonated PDMAEMA can thus interact with the negatively charged BPA through electrostatic attraction to increase the BPA sorption capacity and enhance the ability for highly sensitive detection of BPA. The PHD/MWCNTs composite films combine the electrocatalytic property of MWCNTs and the electrostatic attraction of protonated PHD. Because of the above-mentioned excellent property of the composite films, the PHD/MWCNTs/glassy carbon electrode exhibited good electrocatalytic activity to electrooxidation of BPA. The wide linear response range of the BPA sensor was from 4.56 × 10−5 g L−1 to 2.28 × 10−2 g L−1 with a lower detection limit of 2.28 × 10−6 g L−1 (S/N = 3) and high sensitivity 2442.86 μA L g−1 cm−2. The current reached the steady-state current with a shorter response time less than 4 s. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine BPA in real samples (PVC food package, milk, tap water and pond water) and satisfactory results were obtained. These results indicated that the block polyelectrolyte composite have potential applicability of the BPA sensor.