Construction of specific molecularly imprinted electrochemical probe utilizing magnetic carbon dots for effective measurement of bisphenol AP in plastic products

A creative electrochemical probe utilizing molecularly imprinted modified magnetic carbon dots was designed and fabricated. Carbon dots are a new kind of green, pollution-free, cheap and easy to obtain nanomaterials. The combination of Fe3O4 and carbon dots improved the defect of ferric oxide being easy to aggregate, and their co-modification significantly enhanced the electrochemical activity of the electrode. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry were executed to evaluate the electrochemical behavior of the co-modified electrode surface and performance of the probe. The constructed probe exhibited excellent selectivity and sensitivity for determining bisphenol AP in plastic products. The introduction of molecularly imprinted polymers endowed the sensor excellent selectivity, ensuring specific recognition of bisphenol AP. The fabricated sensor demonstrated a good two-stage linear range of 0.07–0.3 μM and 0.3–10 μM, and the detection limit was 0.027 μM. The constructed probe was validated to detect bisphenol AP in self-heating hot pot, instant noodle bucket and disposable plastic cup, and satisfactory results were achieved. These results indicated that the fabricated sensor was a cheap, rapid, and selective sensing-platform for detecting bisphenol AP, and could be employed as a reliable routine tool.