Electrochemical enhancement of acetylene black film as sensitive sensing platform for toxic tetrabromobisphenol A

Abstract

Developing sensitive and simple analytical methods for tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is very important because TBBPA exists widely in the environment and its biological toxicity is high. Herein, three kinds of acetylene black (AB) films with different morphology and electrochemical reactivity were prepared, and then used to construct different electrochemical sensors for TBBPA. On the surface of AB films, the direct oxidation signals of TBBPA increase greatly, and moreover, the prepared AB films exhibit different enhancement ability toward TBBPA oxidation. The influences of pH value, amount of AB particles and accumulation time were studied on the oxidation signals of TBBPA. As a result, a sensitive electrochemical sensor based on the remarkable enhancement effects of AB film was developed for the rapid detection of TBBPA. The linear range was from 10 to 350 μg L⁻¹, and the detection limit was 6.08 μg L⁻¹ (cal. 11 nM). This new sensing system was used for the analysis of TBBPA in water samples, and good recoveries in the range of 99.3–104.5% were obtained.