Poly(2-amino-4-thiazoleacetic acid)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes modified glassy carbon electrodes for the electrochemical detection of copper(II)

Electrical and Electrochemical Sensors Based on Carbon Nanotubes for the Monitoring of Chemicals in Water-A Review

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) combine high electrical conductivity with high surface area and chemical stability, which makes them very promising for chemical sensing. While water quality monitoring has particularly strong societal and environmental impacts, a lot of critical sensing needs remain unmet by commercial technologies. In the present review, we show across 20 water monitoring analytes and 90 references that carbon nanotube-based electrochemical sensors, chemistors and field-effect transistors (chemFET) can meet these needs. A set of 126 additional references provide context and supporting information. After introducing water quality monitoring challenges, the general operation and fabrication principles of CNT water quality sensors are summarized. They are sorted by target analytes (pH, micronutrients and metal ions, nitrogen, hardness, dissolved oxygen, disinfectants, sulfur and miscellaneous) and compared in terms of performances (limit of detection, sensitivity and detection range) and functionalization strategies. For each analyte, the references with best performances are discussed. Overall, the most frequently investigated analytes are H+ (pH) and lead (with 18% of references each), then cadmium (14%) and nitrite (11%). Micronutrients and toxic metals cover 40% of all references. Electrochemical sensors (73%) have been more investigated than chemistors (14%) or FETs (12%). Limits of detection in the ppt range have been reached, for instance Cu(II) detection with a liquid-gated chemFET using SWCNT functionalized with peptide-enhanced polyaniline or Pb(II) detection with stripping voltammetry using MWCNT functionalized with ionic liquid-dithizone based bucky-gel. The large majority of reports address functionalized CNTs (82%) instead of pristine or carboxyl-functionalized CNTs. For analytes where comparison is possible, FET-based and electrochemical transduction yield better performances than chemistors (Cu(II), Hg(II), Ca(II), H2O2); non-functionalized CNTs may yield better performances than functionalized ones (Zn(II), pH and chlorine).

Detection of Cu2+ in Water Based on Histidine-Gold Labeled Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Electrochemical Sensor

Based on the strong interaction between histidine and copper ions and the signal enhancement effect of gold-labeling carbon nanotubes, an electrochemical sensor is established and used to measure copper ions in river water. In this study the results show that the concentrations of copper ion have well linear relationship with the peak current in the range of 10⁻¹¹–10⁻⁷mol/L, and the limit of detection is 10⁻¹²mol/L. When using this method to detect copper ions in the Xiangjiang River, the test results are consistent with the atomic absorption method. This study shows that the sensor is convenient to be used in daily monitoring of copper ions in river water.

Development of a novel cyano group containing electrochemically deposited polymer film for ultrasensitive simultaneous detection of trace level cadmium and lead

Poly(diphenylamine-co-2-aminobenzonitrile) (P(DPA-co-2ABN)), a cyano group containing conducting polyaniline derivative, has been electrodeposited developed as the new material and utilized for the simultaneous electrochemical determination of trace levels of cadmium (Cd(2+)) and lead (Pb(2+)). P(DPA-co-2ABN) film preconcentrates effectively through cyano chelation and electrochemically strips the heavy metal ions with well separated potentials, which are beneficially utilized for ppb level simultaneous detection of Cd(2+) and Pb(2+). Differential pulse voltammetry studies revealed that Cd(2+) and Pb(2+) ions were simultaneously stripped with well-defined, separated and sharp peaks for Cd(2+) and Pb(2+). The influence of various operational parameters such as pulse amplitude, pulse time, scan rate, initial potential, end potential, accumulation potential and accumulation time on the electrochemical stripping of heavy metals were investigated in details. Under the optimal conditions, good linear correlations were obtained from 1.26 to 907.8 ppm for Cd(2+) and 0.26 to 58.73 ppm for Pb(2+), respectively. Low detection limits for Cd(2+) and Pb(2+), 0.255 ppm and 0.165 ppm, respectively, were observed. The practical utility of the new procedure was demonstrated in real samples.

Electrochemical aptasensor for detection of copper based on a reagentless signal-on architecture and amplification by gold nanoparticles

A highly sensitive and specific electrochemical aptasensor for Cu(2+) detection based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is presented. In this work, AuNPs offered a big surface area to immobilize a large number of aptamers and excellent electrochemical signal transduction. Its high sensitivity, low detection limit, and wide detection range are the main advantages over our former copper aptasensor. The peak current increased proportionally to the Cu(2+) concentration over the range from 0.1 nM to 10 μM with a detection limit of 0.1 pM. The presence of other divalent metal ions did not affect the detection of Cu(2+), which indicates a high specificity of Cu(2+) detection could be detected. Rapidity, simplicity, and excellent selectivity make it suitable for practical use in determination of Cu(2+) from lake samples.