Electrochemical sensor for bisphenol A detection based on molecularly imprinted polymers and gold nanoparticles

A novel bisphenol A (BPA) sensor based on amperometric detection has been developed by using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and gold nanoparticles. The sensitive layer was prepared by electropolymerization of 2-aminothiophenol on a gold nanoparticles-modified glassy carbon electrode in the presence of BPA as a template. Cyclic voltammetry was used to monitor the process of electropolymerization. The properties of the layer were studied in the presence of Fe(CN)(6) (3-)/Fe(CN)(6) (4-) redox couples. The template and the non-binding molecules were removed by washing with H2SO4 (0.65 mol L-1) solution. The linear response range of the sensor was between 8.0 x 10(-6)-6.0 x 10(-2) mol L-1, with a detection limit of 1.38 x 10(-7) mol L-1 (S/N = 3). The proposed MIPs sensor exhibited good selectivity for BPA. The stability and repeatability of the MIPs senor were found to be satisfactory. The results from real sample analysis confirmed the applicability of the MIPs sensor to quantitative analysis.