Simultaneous detection of nitrophenol isomers using an easy-to-fabricate thiophene-based microporous polymer film modified electrode

Abstract

A thiophene-based microporous polymer film modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was simply fabricated via one-step template-free electropolymerization in dichloromethane without any surfactant. The prepared electrode exhibited remarkably increased electrochemical responses for nitrophenol (NP) isomers compared to non-modified GCE. The phenomenon could be ascribed to the strong intermolecular interactions between electron-rich, broad-surface-area thiophene-based conjugated microporous polymer film and electron-poor nitro-analytes. The proposed sensor was systematically characterized for its application in the simultaneous determination of nitrophenol isomers. At optimum conditions, the sensor displayed satisfactory linear ranges: 0.3–10 µmol L−1, 0.3–12.5 µmol L−1 and 0.3–15 µmol L−1 for o, m, p-NP, respectively. Excellent detection limits of 0.04 µmol L−1 for o-NP, 0.05 µmol L−1 for m-NP and p-NP were showed. Our results proved that the thiophene-based microporous polymer films obtained by electropolymerization are truly promising in developing electrochemical sensors.