Novel electrochemical sensor based on N-doped carbon nanotubes and Fe3O4 nanoparticles: Simultaneous voltammetric determination of ascorbic acid, dopamine and uric acid

A new modified electrode based on N-doped carbon nanotubes functionalized with Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@CNT-N) has been prepared and applied on the simultaneous electrochemical determination of small biomolecules such as dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA) and ascorbic acid (AA) using voltammetric methods. The unique properties of CNT-N and Fe3O4 nanoparticles individually and the synergetic effect between them led to an improved electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of AA, DA and UA. The overlapping anodic peaks of these three biomolecules could be resolved from each other due to their lower oxidation potentials and enhanced oxidation currents when using the Fe3O4@CNT-N modified electrode. The linear response ranges for the square wave voltammetric determination of AA, DA and UA were 5–235, 2.5–65 and 2.5–85 μmol dm−3 with detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.24, 0.050 and 0.047 μmol dm−3, respectively. These results show that Fe3O4@CNT-N nanocomposite is a promising candidate of cutting-edge electrode materials for electrocatalytic applications.The authors thank Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for financial support through Grant Nos. PEst-C/EQB/LA0006/2013 and PTDC/CTM-POL/0813/2012, to Operation NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000067–Nanochemistry and MICINN of Spain (Projects CTQ-2011-29272-C04-01 and -03) for financial support. DMF also thanks FCT for her PD Grant SFRH/BPD/74877/2010.Peer Reviewe