A Simple Strategy for the Simultaneous Determination of Dopamine, Uric Acid, L-Tryptophan and Theophylline Based on a Carbon Nano-Onions Modified Electrode

In this work, carbon nano-onions (CNOs) with particle sizes of 5–10 nm were prepared by the multi-potential step method. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy characterize the effective synthesis of CNOs. CNOs/GCEs were prepared by depositing the prepared CNOs onto glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) by a drop-coating method. Examination of the electrocatalytic activity of the CNOs/GCE sensor by simultaneously detecting dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA), L-tryptophan (Trp) and theophylline (TP) using a differential pulse voltammetry technique. The results showed that the linear ranges of DA, UA, Trp and TP were DA 0.01–38.16 μM, UA 0.06–68.16 μM, Trp 1.00–108.25 μM, and TP 8.16–108.25 μM, and the detection limits (S/N = 3) were 0.0039 μM, 0.0087 μM, 0.18 μM and 0.35 μM, respectively. The CNOS/GCE sensor had good stability and could be used for the detection of actual samples.