A Novel Ternary Graphene-based Nanocomposite Modified Electrode for Acetaminophen Detection

Herein, design and synthesis of ternary gold nanoparticles@ sulfourea-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (Gold-NPs@SFG) is reported. It involves interaction of 'sulfourea' to the graphene sheetsviaamidation of edged carboxyls of graphene oxide withN-terminals of sulfourea followed by association of Gold-NPs. Sulfourea not only reduced the graphene oxide but interestingly, it is functionalized to graphene sheetsviacarbodiimide covalent junctions, which gives it local effect to increase the active surface area and excellent electrocatalytic properties. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized with SEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman, XRD, XPS and CV. Gold-NPs@SFG was found to be more efficient electrocatalyst for the electrocatalytic oxidation of a drug 'Acetaminophen' using differential pulse voltammetry and it was employed as a highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor for the quantification of 'Acetaminophen' with the detection limit of 0.09 mu M in the wide linear range of 1.2 to 300 mu M.