Molecularly imprinted polymer (biomimetic) based potentiometric sensor for atrazine

A biomimetic potentiometric sensor was developed by dispersing the atrazine imprinted polymer particles in di-n-octyl phthalate plasticizer and then embedding in polyvinyl chloride matrix. The sensor responds to atrazine in the pH range 2.5–3.0 over a wide working range of 0.0001–10 mM with a detection limit of 0.5 μM (0.1 ppm). This sensor has a reasonably faster response time of ∼2 min and high selectivity with respect to other important classes of pesticides and herbicides. The utility of the sensor was successfully tested for field monitoring of atrazine in ground waters by spiking known amounts of atrazine.