Fabrication of Fe3O4 nanoparticles modified electrode and its application for voltammetric sensing of dopamine

Magnetic nanoparticles of Fe3O4 approximately 5nm in size were synthesized and characterized by XRD and TEM. A novel gold electrode modified with Fe3O4 nanoparticles was then constructed and was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The modified electrode exhibited strong promoting effect and high stability toward the electrochemical oxidation of dopamine (DA), which gave reversible redox peaks with a formal potential of 0.192 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) electrode in pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution (PB). The anodic peak currents (measured by constant potential amperometry) increased linearly with the concentration of dopamine in the range of 1.5 x 10(-7) to 4.0 x 10(-4) M. The detection limit (SN= 3) obtained was 3.0 x 10(-8) M. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of 8 successive scans was 3.41% for 1.5 x 10(-6) M DA. The interference of ascorbic acid (AA) could be eliminated efficiently. The proposed method showed excellent sensitivity and recovery.