An electrochemical sensor for the detection of p-nitrophenol based on a cyclodextrin-decorated gold nanoparticle–mesoporous carbon hybrid

In this work, a novel electrochemical sensor was constructed for the detection of p-nitrophenol. First, per-6-deoxy-per-6-(2-carboxy-methyl)thio-β-cyclodextrin (AcSCD) was synthesized and used as a stabilizer agent to decorate gold nanoparticles (AcSCD-AuNPs). Subsequently, a novel electrode material was fabricated by the incorporation of AcSCD-AuNPs on mesoporous carbon (MC). Furthermore, a glassy carbon electrode electrochemical sensor modified with AcSCD-AuNPs-MC was prepared and characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Eventually, the constructed electrochemical sensor was used for the detection of p-nitrophenol by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) experiments. The results showed that the linear response ranges are 0.1–10 μM and 10–350 μM, with a detection limit of 3.63 μg mL−1. Therefore, it is demonstrated that AcSCD-AuNPs-MC provides a synergistic effect of high catalytic activity from AuNPs and supramolecular recognition property from AcSCD effectively incorporated on MC for further electrochemical sensor applications.