Development of an electrochemical nano-structure sensor for the sensitive determination of catechol in real samples

Catechol is an important environmental pollutant. Therefore, its quick and accurate measurement is so important. This article reported a selective and sensitive electrochemical method for determination of catechol in real samples with the help of a carbon paste electrode modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs/CPE). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were used to investigate the electrochemical behavior of catechol. The modified electrode showed excellent electrocatalytic properties towards catechol redox. Analytical parameters such as linearity range, selectivity, reproducibility, and stability were investigated. After optimizing the experimental conditions, the peak current of catechol in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (pH = 7) was linear in the concentration range of 0.5 - 200 μM. The detection limit was 0.1 μM (S/N = 3). In addition, the proposed sensor was successfully used to detection of catechol in real samples with satisfactory recovery (0.96 -102.4 %), which indicates the efficiency of the developed method in practical applications.