Preparation of thiolated calix[8]arene/AuNPs/MWCNTs modified glassy carbon electrode and its electrocatalytic oxidation toward paracetamol

Abstract

In this paper, multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and thiolated calix[8]arene (TC8A) make a significant combination to fabricate TC8A/AuNPs/MWCNTs modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE), named as TC8A/AuNPs/MWCNTs/GCE, for the determination of paracetamol (PCM). During the preparation process of modified electrode, AuNPs are firstly in-situ growth on the MWCNTs/GCE by electrochemical deposition. Then, TC8A can self-assemble onto the surface of AuNPs through thiol groups to form ternary hybrid composite film TC8A/AuNPs/MWCNTs. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurements show that the TC8A/AuNPs/MWCNTs/GCE modified electrode exhibits the good electrocatalytic activity and the high electrochemical response toward PCM. TC8A/AuNPs/MWCNTs/GCE modified electrode displays an excellent electrochemical performance for PCM by DPV with high current density of 7.64 mA mM−1 cm−2, broad linear range (1–150 μM) and low detection limit (0.2 μM) at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. This superior performance is attributed to the synergic electrocatalytic effect of MWCNTs and AuNPs, and the enrichment capability of TC8A for PCM.