Sensitive electrodes are of a great importance for the realization of highly performant electrochemical sensors for field application. In the present work, a laser-induced carbon (LIC) electrode is proposed for 4-Aminophenol (4-AP) electrochemical sensors. The electrode is patterned on a commercial low-cost polyimide (Kapton) sheet and functionalized with a multi-walled carbon nanotubes polyaniline (MWCNT-PANI) composite, realized by an in-situ-polymerization in an acidic medium. The LIC electrode modified with MWCNT-PAPNI nanocomposite was investigated by SEM, AFM, and electrochemically in the presence of ferri-ferrocyanide [Fe(CN)6]3-/4- by cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The results show a significant improvement of the electron transfer rate after the electrode functionalization in the presence of the redox mediators [Fe(CN)6]3-/4-, related directly to the active surface, which itself increased by about 18.13% compared with the bare LIG. The novel electrode shows a good reproducibility and a stability for 20 cycles and more. It has a significantly enhanced electro-catalytic activity towards electrooxidation reaction of 4-AP inferring positive synergistic effects between carbon nanotubes and polyaniline PANI. The presented electrode combination LIC/MWCNT-PANI exhibits a detection limit of 0.006 μM for the determination of 4-AP at concentrations ranging from 0.1 μM to 55 μM and was successfully applied for the monitoring in real samples with good recoveries.
Keywords: 4-Aminophenol; MWCNT-PANI; electrochemical sensor; laser induced carbon.