Electrochemical properties and the determination of nicotine at a multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrode

Electrochemical properties of nicotine at the glassy carbon electrode modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes were explored. Nicotine underwent irreversible reduction at the modified electrode, which was an adsorption-controlled process with two protons and two electrons. The reductive peak current of nicotine significantly increased at the modified electrode compared with the bare glassy carbon electrode, suggesting that the multi-walled carbon nanotubes can enhance the electron transfer rate. The current was proportional to the concentration of nicotine over two line ranges, and the detection limit was 9.3 µM (at S/N = 3). For ten parallel detections of 0.62 mM nicotine, the relative standard deviation was 2.67%, suggesting that the film modified electrode had excellent reproducibility. The modified electrode was applied to the direct determination of nicotine in tobacco samples with good sensitivity, selectivity and stability.