Microwave-assisted facile synthesis of layered reduced graphene oxide-tungsten disulfide sandwiched Fe3O4 nanocomposite as effective and sensitive sensor for detection of dopamine

Abstract

The exceptional properties of two-dimensional (2D) organic/inorganic layered materials make them a promising candidate for use in electrochemical sensing application. In this research study, the combination of two different layered materials as reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets and tungsten disulfide (WS2) separated by Fe3O4 nanoparticles, have been synthesized by microwave irradiation method for the detection of dopamine. Microwave-assisted synthesis of heterostructure rGO-WS2@Fe3O4 nanocomposite is a simple, cost-effective, high-yield and short-reaction time approach. The phase formation, surface morphology and structural properties of the nanocomposite show that the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in between separated layers of rGO and WS2 nanosheets prevent the agglomeration of nanoparticles as well as the restacking of the 2D layered materials. Due to well-defined morphologies and crystallinity, as-synthesized rGO-WS2@Fe3O4 nanocomposite was used as an efficient biosensor for the detection of dopamine, a neurotransmitter. The rGO-WS2@Fe3O4 nanocomposite was found to show a low limit of detection (LOD) i.e., 2.74 μM with the sensitivity of 3.18 μA μM−1 cm−2 for dopamine at a low potential of 0.2 V. Therefore, it is expected that the microwave-assisted cost-effective route can be developed for rGO combined with other inorganic layered materials to design electrochemical sensors for the determination of biological and pharmaceutical samples.