Fabrication of graphene/poly(ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate) composite electrode for amperometric detection in capillary electrophoresis

This report describes the development and application of a novel graphene/poly(ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate) composite electrode as a sensitive amperometric detector of capillary electrophoresis. The composite electrode was fabricated on the basis of the in situ polymerization of a mixture of graphene and ethyl 2-cyanoacrylate in the microchannel of a piece of fused silica capillary under heat. The structure of the material was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and infrared spectroscopy. The results indicated that graphene sheets were well dispersed and interconnected throughout the composite to form a conductive network. The performance of this unique detector was demonstrated by separating and detecting five naturally occurring phenolic compounds in combination with capillary electrophoresis. The graphene-based detector offered significantly lower operating potentials, substantially enhanced signal-to-noise characteristics, and lower expense of operation, indicate great promise for microchip capillary electrophoresis, flowing injection analysis, and other microfluidic analysis systems.