Graphene-anchored conductive polymer aerogel composite for the electrocatalytic detection of hydrogen peroxide and bisphenol A

Abstract

An aerogel composite of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) anchored on amine groups of conductive polyterthiophene (p(APT-rGO) aerogel is synthesized for the first time, using a hydrothermal method. The electrocatalytic performance of the composite electrode was explored for bisphenol A (BPA) oxidation and hydrogen peroxide reduction. The surface of catalyst was found to possess numerous active sites owing to exposed edges and large surface area of a three-dimensional aerogel. Additionally, incorporation of rGO into poly(aminopyrimidyl terthiophene) (pAPT) is found to enhance the catalytic performance and stability. The p(APT-rGO) aerogel coated screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) displayed a superior catalytic performance for the BPA detection with two dynamic ranges of 5–500 nM and 1–200 µM with the detection limit of 4.28 ± 0.75 nM. Otherwise, the dynamic ranges of H2O2 detection were 100 nM-100 µM and 200 µM-3 mM with the detection limit of 9.12 ± 1.03 nM. The catalytic active site of the composite aerogel was investigated for BPA oxidation and H2O2 reduction. The proposed sensor demonstrated an excellent analytical performance for the determination of BPA extracted from commercial polycarbonate bottles and trace amounts of H2O2 released from living cells by drug stimulation.