Carbon nanotube/polystyrene composite electrode for microchip electrophoretic determination of rutin and quercetin in Flos Sophorae Immaturus

In this report, carbon nanotube/polystyrene (CNT/PS) composite electrodes have been fabricated as sensitive amperometric detectors of microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the determination of rutin and quercetin in Flos Sophorae Immaturus. The composite electrode was fabricated on the basis of the in situ polymerization of a mixture of CNT and styrene in the microchannel of a piece of fused silica capillary under heat. The surface morphologies of the composite in the electrodes were observed by using a scanning electron microscope. The performance of this unique system has been demonstrated by separating and detecting rutin and quercetin. The new CNT-based CE detector offered significantly lower detection potentials, yielded substantially enhanced signal-to-noise characteristics, and exhibited resistance to surface fouling and hence enhanced stability. It demonstrated long-term stability and reproducibility with a relative standard deviation of less than 5% for the peak current (n = 20) and should also find a wide range of applications in conventional CE, flowing injection analysis, and other microfluidic analysis systems.