Differential pulse voltammetric simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid, dopamine and uric acid on a glassy carbon electrode modified with electroreduced graphene oxide and imidazolium groups

A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was anodically oxidized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in 0.05 M sulfuric acid to introduce hydroxy groups on its surface (GCE ox ). Next, an imidazolium alkoxysilane (ImAS) is covalently tethered to the surface of the GCE ox via silane chemistry. This electrode is further modified with graphene oxide (GO) which, dispersed in water, spontaneously assembles on the electrode surface through electrostatic interaction and π-interaction to give an electrode of type GO/ImAS/GCE. Electroreduction of GO and GCE ox by CV yields electroreduced GO (erGO) and an electrode of the type erGO/ImAS/GCE. This electrode displays excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA). Three fully resolved anodic peaks (at −50 mV, 150 mV and 280 mV vs. Ag/AgCl) are observed during differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Under optimized conditions, the linear detection ranges are from 30 to 2000 μM for AA, from 20 to 490 μM for UA, and from 0.1 to 5 μM and from 5 μM to 200 μM (two linear ranges) for DA. The respective limits of detection (for an S / N of 3) are 10 μM, 5 μM and 0.03 μM. The GCE modified with erGO and ImAS performs better than a bare GCE or a GCE modified with ImAS only, and also outperforms many other reported electrodes for the three analytes. The method was successfully applied to simultaneous analysis of AA, DA and UA in spiked human urine. Graphical abstract Differential pulse voltammetric simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid, dopamine and uric acid is achieved on a glassy carbon electrode modified with electroreduced graphene oxide and imidazolium groups, through anodic treatment of glassy carbon and silane chemistry.