An electrochemical biosensing platform based on 1-formylpyrene functionalized reduced graphene oxide for sensitive determination of phenol

A highly efficient enzyme-based screen printed electrode (SPE) was developed based on the covalent immobilization of tyrosinase (Tyr) on 1-formylpyrene (1-FP) functionalized reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Here, the bifunctional molecule 1-FP was assembled onto rGO sheets. Subsequently, a Tyr molecule was immobilized on the 1-FP forming a biocompatible nanocomposite, which was further coated onto the working electrode surface of the SPE. The performance of as-prepared biosensor was investigated by the detection of phenol in the presence of molecular oxygen. Wide linear range, low detection limit and high sensitivity were obtained with this biosensor due to the good conductivity of rGO as well as the high bioactivity of Tyr well retained by the 1-FP/rGO platform. Finally, the proposed biosensor was successfully employed for the detection of phenol in real water samples with satisfactory results. These findings suggest that this novel biosensor could offer great potential for rapid, cost-effective and on-field analysis of phenolic compounds.