Electrode material fabricated by loading cerium oxide nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide and its application in electrochemical sensor for tryptophan

Facile fabrication of advanced electrode material is highly desired for novel electrochemical sensor development. Herein, cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles were successfully loaded on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by one-step hydrothermal synthesis approach, and the as-prepared nanocomposite (CeO2/RGO) was used as novel electrode material for electrochemical detection of tryptophan. The structure and composition of CeO2/RGO nanocomposite were fully characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The electrochemical properties were characterized by several techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It was found that the CeO2/RGO nanocomposite electrode exhibits an enhanced peak current response compared with individual CeO2 or RGO material. The electrochemical sensor based CeO2/RGO material showed a selective and sensitive response toward tryptophan determination, and a linear range of 0.2–25 μM with a detection limit of 80 nM (S/N = 3) was achieved. The present electrochemical sensor displayed an excellent stability and reproducibility, and was successfully applied in the determination of tryptophan in real food and biological samples.