Molecularly imprinted sensor based on electropolmerized poly(o-phenylenediamine) membranes at reduced graphene oxide modified electrode for imidacloprid determination

In this paper, a novel electrochemical sensor based on imprinted poly(o-phenylenediamine) (PoPD) membranes at reduced graphene oxide (RGO) modified electrode for selective and sensitive detection of imidacloprid was fabricated. RGO was dropped onto the surface of the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) to amplify the electrocatalytic activity. The imprinted PoPD membranes were then synthesized onto RGO surface by electropolymerization using oPD as the monomer and imidacloprid as the template. The surface morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The feature of the imprinted electrode was performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The imprinted PoPD-RGO sensor exhibited good selectivity toward imidacloprid in comparison with other similar interferents. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the current response of the imprinted PoPD-RGO sensor was linear to the imidacloprid concentration in the range of 7.5 × 10−7 to 7.0 × 10−5 M with a detection limit of 4.0 × 10−7 M (S/N = 3). The imprinted electrochemical sensor was successfully employed for the selective determination of imidacloprid in real samples.