Role of the anionic dopant of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) for the electroanalytical performance: electrooxidation of acetaminophen

Abstract

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) films are synthesized in the presence of various anions and surfactants (perchlorate, dodecylsulfate (DDS), polysterenesulfonate (PSS) and poly(2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonate (PAMPS), and polyoxyethylene-10-laurylether (PLE)) on glassy carbon electrodes. The electrocatalytical activity for acetaminophen electrooxidation is studied depending on the type of dopant and the polymerization charge of the PEDOT films. It is established that all PEDOT-coated electrodes show a marked electrocatalytical effect for this reaction. After exposure to acetaminophen, a new redox pair is observed to appear in the voltammetric curves measured in supporting electrolyte for all PEDOT-coated electrodes. The dopant used in the course of the PEDOT synthesis is found to play an important role for these redox currents with PEDOT/PSS-coated electrodes showing the smallest ones. The investigation of the role of the polymerization charge (i.e. the thickness of the polymer films) reveals that electrodes coated with thin PEDOT films perform better than those coated with thicker polymer films.Electroanalytical detection of acetaminophen is found to be effective by means of thin film PEDOT/PSS-coated electrodes. The concentration range of linear response is established to be 50μMdm−3 to 1mMdm−3 in linear sweep voltammetry experiments and 5μMdm−3 to 65μMdm−3 in DPV experiments. The corresponding LODs are 10μMdm−3 and 0.3μMdm−3, respectively. PEDOT/PSS-coated electrodes are used to determine acetaminophen in four medications containing various additional components.