Electrochemical Sensing of Arsenic Ions Using a Covalently Functionalized Benzotriazole-Reduced Graphene Oxide-Modified Screen-Printed Carbon Electrode

Herein, Tecoma stans (TS) flower extract was used as an efficient green reducing agent for graphene oxide (GO) to produce reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for the first time. The organic heterocyclic benzotriazole (BTA) was incorporated onto the rGO surface through a nucleophilic substitution reaction to produce covalently bonded BTA-rGO. The prepared materials were analyzed by UV-visible spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction measurements (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). A screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) was modified with BTA-rGO. The fabricated electrode was electrochemically analyzed by using K-3[Fe (CN)(6)] as a redox probe. To evaluate the sensing ability of BTA-rGO/SPCE electrode towards arsenic ions using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and amperometry techniques. The BTA functional was play the major role in significant improving the conductivity and sensitivity of the designed electrode. The BTA-rGO/SPCE modified electrode demonstrates voltammetric determination of As3+ ions with a limit of detection, high sensitivity, and linear range values of 2.89 nM, 1.8 mu A nM(-1), and 2-40 nM, respectively. Furthermore, all of these impressive results indicate that BTA-rGO can be used as an electrode-material with capability for electrochemical arsenic sensors. The fabricated sensors showed repeatability and reproducibility in this study.