Highly sensitive and selective surface molecularly imprinted polymer electrochemical sensor prepared by Au and MXene modified glassy carbon electrode for efficient detection of tetrabromobisphenol A in water

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a widely used brominated flame retardants (BFRs) to impede or inhibit flammability. It has been detected in aquatic food webs, soils, and sediments from diverse electronic waste (e-waste) recycling sites. A selective and sensitive electrochemical sensor which was constructed by dropping molecularly imprinted polymer onto MXene and Au nanoparticle modified glassy carbon electrode was used to detect TBBPA. The specific recognition site provided by molecularly imprinted polymer can ensure the accuracy of detection results. Excellent conductivity of MXene and Au nanoparticles can effectively enhance the responsive signal of the sensors. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were firstly fixed on graphene sheets via the solvothermal method, and the azido was introduced by nucleophilic addition between carbonyl and amino after dopamine was self-polymerized onto the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared by RAFT polymerization after the RAFT agent was introduced by the click chemistry between azido and alkynyl. The concentration of TBBPA was detected by differential pulse voltammetry. The influences of accumulation time and pH value were investigated. The as-prepared molecular imprinting sensor exhibited a good linear relationship to the concentration of TBBPA ranging from 0.05 to 10 nM with a detection limit of 0.0144 nM. The proposed sensor was also successfully used to detect TBBPA in water samples and the recovery values for the standards added were 97.1–106%.