Electrochemical sensor based on covalent organic frameworks/MWCNT for simultaneous detection of catechol and hydroquinone

Catechol (CC) and hydroquinone (HQ) are highly toxic organic phenolic compounds and they possess immea-surable harm to human health and the environment. Their simultaneous detection can provide valuable reference for the environment protection and human health. In this work, an imine bond-linked covalent organic frame-work (COF) was fabricated via a facile solvothermal method and then cooperated with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to construct a novel electrochemical sensor. The petal-shaped COF provides large specific surface area, and MWCNTs remarkably improve the conductivity of the resulted modified electrode. Co-modification of the COF and MWCNTs to glassy carbon electrode (GCE) leads to a three-dimensional structure and significant synergy. Under the optimal experimental conditions, good linear relationships are obtained over the concentration range from 4.0 to 450 mu M for simultaneous determination of CC and HQ and the detection limits are 0.36 mu M and 0.38 mu M, respectively. The proposed electrochemical sensor shows excellent repeatability, reproducibility, stability, anti-interference and can be exploited to detect simultaneously CC and HQ in Yellow River water and tap water samples.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel electrochemical sensor was constructed by fabricating an imine bond-linked covalent organic framework (COF) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composite material, which can simultaneously detect catechol and hydroquinone in Yellow River water and tap water samples.