An enhanced electrocatalytic oxidation and determination of 2,4-dichlorophenol on multilayer deposited functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube/Nafion composite film electrode

Abstract

The voltammetric (CV and DPV) behavior of multi-walled carbon nanotube/Nafion composite coupled with a glassy carbon electrode was investigated for the determination of 2,4-dichlorophenol. The structural and morphological evaluation by XRD and FESEM revealed that the acid treated MWCNT retained their morphology without any structural change. The existence of the possible functional groups was investigated by FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. Compared to bare GCE, a significantly reduced interfacial charge transfer resistance was noticed for MWCNT/Nafion/GCE by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The use of Nafion not only contributed to the non-covalent functionalization of MWCNT, but also protected the electrode surface against the polymerization of phenoxy radicals forming a passivating film. For MWCNT/Nafion/GCE, the combination of anti-passivating ability and excellent catalytic properties resulted in the rapid and direct electrochemical determination of 2,4-DCP. Under optimal experimental conditions, the DPV responses for MWCNT/Nafion/GCE is linear over the 1–150 μmol/L range with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.01 μmol/L. The presence of many interfering species had no influence on the signals of 2,4-DCP. The proposed sensor was successfully tested for the determination of 2,4-DCP in tap water samples and the recovery was in the range of 99.0–102.5%. Keywords: 2,4-Dichlorophenol, Electrocatalytic oxidation, Multi-walled carbon nanotube/Nafion composite, Electrochemical sensor, Voltammetry