A novel electrochemical sensor of bisphenol A based on stacked graphene nanofibers/gold nanoparticles composite modified glassy carbon electrode.

Abstract: In this paper, a novel and convenient electrochemical sensor based on stacked graphene nanofibers (SGNF) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) composite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was developed for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA). The AuNPs/SGNF modified electrode showed an efficient electrocatalytic role for the oxidation of BPA, and the oxidation overpotentials of BPA were decreased significantly and the peak current increased greatly compared with bare GCE and other modified electrode. The transfer electron number (n) and the charge transfer coefficient (α) were calculated with the result as n =4, α =0.52 for BPA, which indicated the electrochemical oxidation of BPA on AuNPs/SGNF modified electrode was a four-electron and four-proton process. The effective surface areas of AuNPs/SGNF/GCE increased for about 1.7-fold larger than that of the bare GCE. In addition, the kinetic parameters of the modified electrode were calculated and the apparent heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (k s) was 0.51s−1. Linear sweep voltammetry was applied as a sensitive analytical method for the determination of BPA and a good linear relationship between the peak current and BPA concentration was obtained in the range from 0.08 to 250μM with a detection limit of 3.5×10−8 M. The modified electrode exhibited a high sensitivity, long-term stability and remarkable reproducible analytical performance and was successfully applied for the determination of BPA in baby bottles with satisfying results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]