Molecularly imprinted polymer on graphene surface for selective and sensitive electrochemical sensing imidacloprid

A novel and simple imprinting route based on graphene (GN) was proposed to fabricate an electrochemical sensor for sensitive and selective determination of imidacloprid (IDP) residue. In this route, p-vinylbenzoic acid (VBA) was utilized as functional monomer to immobilize onto GN in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent via pi-pi interaction, directing the polymerization of uniform molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) layers on the surface of GN sheets. Besides, quantitative control of the synthesis of MIP/GN and the preparation of MIP/GN modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) were carried out, which were rarely found in other papers. Thus, the proposed sensor possesses highly improved stability and specific recognition ability. The adsorption isotherm study indicated that the MIP layer on GN surface is monolayer and the structure is homogeneous. The peak current of IDP on MIP/GN modified GCE is linear with IDP concentration in the range of 0.5-15 mu M with a detection limit of 0.10 mu M. In addition, the novel method was further applied to detect IDP in brown rice samples with satisfactory results. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.