An electrochemical sensor based on Au nanoparticles for rapid determination of nitrofurazone in aquaculture seawater

Abstract

An electrochemical sensor for the rapid detection of nitrofurazone in aquaculture seawater using a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) was constructed. Compared with the unmodified electrode, the modified electrode had higher electrocatalytic activity than the GCE and could be used for the detection of nitrofurazone efficiently. It could be found that the AuNPs modified electrode had higher specific surface area by the characterization of scanning electron microscopy. The effects of parameters such as electro-polymerization cycles for modified electrode preparation, the pH of the electrolyte for the detection of nitrofurazone were optimized. Under optimized experimental conditions, the peak current and concentration of nitrofurazone varied linearly in the range of 3 µM to 100 µM under square wave voltammetry (SWV), with the limit of detection of 0.24µM. The proposed sensor was successfully applied for the detection of nitrofurazone in aquaculture seawater, and the spiked recoveries were 96.35%-107% (RSD<4.13%), which indicated that the method has satisfactory accuracy and performance for the detection of nitrofurazone in real seawater.