Low-interference norepinephrine signal on dopamine detection using nafion-coated boron doped diamond electrodes

The detection of dopamine in the presence of norepinephrine using nafion-coated boron doped diamond (Nafion-BDD) electrodes was presented. An increase current signal for dopamine could be observed at around 0.75 V using Nafion-BDD, while a change in the current signal of norepinephrine that appears at similar potential was not observed. This might be due to electronegativity of the norepinephrine that is not positive enough to be attracted towards the nafion membrane, albeit neutral enough to pass through the membrane and undergo electrochemical oxidation. An optimization process including accumulation time of dopamine inside the nafion layer, solution of the pH, and nafion thickness was conducted to exploit the difference electrochemical behavior between those two catecholamines at the Nafion-BDD. Using an accumulation time of 300 s, solution pH of 7, and nafion thickness of 1.1 μm, dopamine's LOD was found to be 0.966 μM. Low-interference signal of norepinephrine to the dopamine could be observed with an excellent %recovery of dopamine in 5% range when the concentration of norepinephrine was 10 times lower compared to dopamine concentration.