Kappa-Carrageenan/Hierarchical Porous Activated Carbon Composite Film for Electrochemical Sensing of Dopamine

Abstract

In this work, a novel electrochemical dopamine sensor was fabricated based on a composite film solely consisting of kappa-carrageenan and hierarchical porous carbon that was synthesized from alkali lignin directly. Following drop-casting onto a glassy carbon electrode and drying overnight, the film was characterized with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and electrochemical tests. 5 ratios by mass of hierarchical porous activated carbon: kappa-carrageenan were studied for optimizing dopamine quantification. Utilizing differential pulse voltammetry for detection, the optimized system elicited a linear range of 1 - 600 μmol L-1 and an limit of detection (LOD) of 0.4 μmol L-1(signal to noise, S/N=3) The proposed system is easy to prepare and requires no synthetic binding agents. All materials and methods utilized were cost-efficient and readily available for commercial use. Due to the simple design of the sensor, it offers great potential for further modification and optimization. Figure 1