Investigation of electrochemical reduction and monitoring of p-nitrophenol on imprinted polymer modified electrode

Abstract

In the present study, a selective and sensitive electrochemical sensor based on molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) for p-nitrophenol (p-NP) detection was developed. For this purpose, MIP was synthesized by precipitation polymerization using methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, ethylene glycol diacrylate as a crosslinking monomer. The morphology and thermal stability were studied using SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) along with FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared) analysis. The electroreduction of p-NP was studied on modified electrode using cyclic voltammetry and diffusion amperometry with LOD (limit of detection) and LOQ (Limit of quantitation) were 0.2 µM and 0.7 µM, respectively, which showed a linear response in a 2 × 10−6 M to 4 × 10−4 M concentration range. The process parameters (coating volume, pH, exposure time) also affected the efficiency of p-NP detection. The fabricated sensor was employed to monitor and detect p-NP in real wastewater sample and up to 95–96% recovery was achieved. Hence, the developed MIP based sensor could be employed for the monitoring and p-NP detection in the effluents.