Development of a parathion sensor based on molecularly imprinted nano-TiO2 self-assembled film electrode

Spontaneous formation of an ordered nano-TiO2/p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene hybrid thin film imprinted by parathion has been achieved by self-assembled technique, and a sensor based on the imprinted film has been constructed for the selective determination of parathion. A linear response to parathion in the concentration range of 5.0 × 10−8 to 1.0 × 10−5 M was observed with a good correlation coefficient (γ2 = 0.992). The linear regression equation was Ip (μA) = 0.202C (μM) + 0.797 and the detection limit of the sensor was 1.0 × 10−8 M (S/N = 3). The imprinted film sensor has been applied to the determination of parathion in spiked vegetable samples and the recoveries were varied from 93.3 to 103.3% at 0.3 and 2.0 μM.