A novel electrochemical sensor based on electropolymerized ion imprinted poly (o-phenylenediamine) PoPD/electrochemical reduced graphene (ERGO) composite on glass carbon electrode (GCE) was fabricated for selective and sensitive determination of trace Cd(II) in water. ERGO was first deposited on the surface of GCE by electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) scanning to enhance the electron transport activity at electrode surface. The ion imprinted polymer (IIP) of imprinted PoPD was then in situ electropolymerized on ERGO via CV scanning with oPD as functional monomer and Cd(II) ions as template, following removal of the template using electrochemical peroxidation method. The obtained imprinted PoPD/RERGO composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray energy spectroscopy (EDS) for the observation of their morphologies and components. The electrochemical behavior of the imprinted PoPD/ERGO/GCE was performed by CV and SWASV. The fabricated sensor of the imprinted PoPD/ERGO/GCE showed a good selectivity toward target Cd(II) ions in the presence of other heavy metal ions. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the sensor exhibited a good linear relationship between SWASV stripping peak values and Cd(II) concentration in the range of 1 to 50 ng/mL, with the limit of detection as 0.13 ng/mL (S/N = 3). The proposed electrochemical sensor of imprinted PoPD/ERGO/GCE was successfully applied for trace Cd(II) determination in real water samples.
Keywords: PoPD/ERGO composite; cadmium determination in water; electrochemical sensor; ion-imprinted polymer.