Fabrication of graphene and gold nanoparticle modified acupuncture needle electrode and its application in rutin analysis

Abstract A nanosensing electrode was constructed with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and graphene (GR) as modifiers and traditional stainless steel acupuncture needle (AN) as substrate electrode (GR/AuNPs/AN), which was applied to sensitive determination of rutin. The electrode modification process was achieved through stepwise electrodeposition of AuNPs and GR on AN surface. The morphology and characteristics of GR/AuNPs/AN were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical techniques. Voltammetric behaviors of rutin on the as-explored sensing platform were carefully studied with the electrochemical parameters calculated. Electrochemical quantitative method for rutin determination was further established by good linearity between the oxidation peak currents and rutin concentrations with two sections (8.0 × 10−8–1.0 × 10−5 mol/L and 2.0 × 10−5–2.0 × 10−4 mol/L) and lower detection limit (2.5 × 10−8 mol/L, 3S0/S). This GR/AuNPs/AN was used to direct detection of rutin in tablet and human urine samples with good sensitivity and selectivity, showing the real applications in different samples.