Synergetic signal amplification of multi-walled carbon nanotubes-Fe3O4 hybrid and trimethyloctadecylammonium bromide as a highly sensitive detection platform for tetrabromobisphenol A

Abstract

In this work, we fabricated an electrochemical sensor based on trimethyloctadecylammonium bromide and multi-walled carbon nanotubes-Fe₃O₄ hybrid (TOAB/MWCNTs-Fe₃O₄) for sensitive detection of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). The nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. The electrochemical behaviors of TBBPA on TOAB/MWCNTs-Fe₃O₄ composite film modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) method. The experimental results indicated that the incorporation of MWCNTs-Fe₃O₄ with TOAB greatly enhanced the electrochemical response of TBBPA. This fabricated sensor displayed excellent analytical performance for TBBPA detection over a range from 3.0 nM to 1000.0 nM with a detection limit of 0.73 nM (S/N = 3). Moreover, the proposed electrochemical sensor exhibited good reproducibility and stability, and could be successfully applied to detect TBBPA in water samples with satisfactory results.