Molecularly imprinted polyaniline film for ascorbic acid detection

Abstract Molecularly imprinted polyaniline (PANI) film (∼100 nm thick) has been electrochemically fabricated onto indium–tin–oxide (ITO) coated glass plate using ascorbic acid (AA) as template molecule. Fourier transform infra‐red spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) studies indicate the presence of AA in PANI matrix, which also acts as a dopant for PANI. Further, the AA selective molecularly imprinted PANI electrode (AA‐MI‐PANI/ITO) has been developed via over‐oxidation of AA doped PANI electrode which leads to the removal of AA moieties from PANI film. The response studies using DPV technique have revealed that this molecularly imprinted AA‐MI‐PANI/ITO electrode can detect AA in the range of 0.05–0.4 mM with detection limit of 0.018 mM and sensitivity of 1.2 × 10 −5 AmM −1 . Interestingly, this AA‐MI‐PANI/ITO electrode shows excellent reusability, selectivity and stability. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.