The voltammetric separation of dopamine and ascorbic acid was studied with cyclic voltammetry at two kinds of carbon nanotube-modified electrodes (coated and intercalated). The anodic peak difference reached 270 mV under the present conditions. The separation mechanism and effect factors were carefully studied. Using various types of surfactants as coating dispersants of carbon nanotubes, it was demonstrated that the charge nature of the surfactants had a strong effect on the electrochemical behavior of dopamine and ascorbic acid. When the oxidation solution of carbon nanotubes was changed from the most commonly used mixed concentrated nitric acid and sulfuric acid (1 + 3 v/v) to dilute nitric acid and to hydrochloric acid, the anodic peak separation value of dopamine and ascorbic acid increased significantly, and it was shown that carboxylic acid groups attached to the carbon nanotubes were an adverse factor for the discrimination of DA from AA. These results indicated that the resolution of DA and AA was mainly attributable to the stereo porous interfacial layer formed from aggregated pores and inner cavities of the carbon nanotubes. The modified electrodes exhibited an attractive ability to measure DA and AA simultaneously and showed good stability and reproducibility.

No abstract

A novel electrochemical immunosensor for sensitive detection of cancer biomarker α-fetoprotein (AFP) is described that uses a graphene sheet sensor platform and functionalized carbon nanospheres (CNSs) labeling with horseradish peroxidase-secondary antibodies (HRP-Ab2). Greatly enhanced sensitivity for the cancer biomarker is based on a dual signal amplification strategy: first, the synthesized CNSs yielded a homogeneous and narrow size distribution, which allowed several binding events of HRP-Ab2 on each nanosphere. Enhanced sensitivity was achieved by introducing the multi-bioconjugates of HRP-Ab2-CNSs onto the electrode surface through “sandwich” immunoreactions. Secondly, functionalized graphene sheets used for the biosensor platform increased the surface area to capture a large amount of primary antibodies (Ab1), thus amplifying the detection response. On the basis of the dual signal amplification strategy of graphene sheets and the multi-enzyme labeling, the developed immunosensor showed a 7-fold increase in detection signal compared to the immunosensor without graphene modification and CNSs labeling. The proposed method could respond to 0.02 ng mL-1 AFP with a linear calibration range from 0.05 to 6 ng mL-1. This amplification strategy is a promising platform for clinical screening of cancer biomarkers and point-of-care diagnostics.

TiO2-reduced graphene oxide composite-modified glassy carbon electrodes (TiO2–ErGO–GCE) for the sensitive detection of tartrazine were prepared by drop casting followed by electrochemical reduction. The as-prepared material was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Cyclic voltammetry and second-order derivative linear scan voltammetry were performed to analyze the electrochemical sensing of tartrazine on different electrodes. The determination conditions (including pH, accumulation potential, and accumulation time) were optimized systematically. The results showed that the TiO2–ErGO composites increased the electrochemical active area of the electrode and enhanced the electrochemical responses to tartrazine significantly. Under the optimum detection conditions, the peak current was found to be linear for tartrazine concentrations in the range of 2.0 × 10−8–2.0 × 10−5 mol/L, with a lower detection limit of 8.0 × 10−9 mol/L (S/N = 3). Finally, the proposed TiO2–ErGO–GCEs were successfully applied for the detection of trace tartrazine in carbonated beverage samples.

In this paper, a nanocomposite of cuprous oxide and electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (Cu2O–ERGO) was prepared by a simple and low-cost method; hereby, a new method for the electrochemical determination of tryptophan (Trp) by this composite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) is proposed. The prepared materials and modified electrodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The results showed that Cu2O–ERGO/GCE had good electrocatalytic activity for Trp. The effects of supporting electrolyte, scanning rate, accumulation potential, and accumulation time on the determination of Trp were studied. Under the optimum experimental conditions, Trp was quantitatively analyzed by square-wave voltammetry (SWV). The oxidation peak current of Trp had a good linear relationship with its concentration in the range of 0.02–20 μM, and the detection limit was 0.01 μM (S/N = 3). In addition, the modified electrode has high sensitivity, good repeatability, and long-term stability. Finally, the proposed method has been successfully applied in the determination of Trp concentration in practical samples.

No abstract

No abstract

The fluid-solid interaction (FSI) dynamic responses for a Light Weight Pyramidal Sandwich Plate Structure (LWPSPS) under different water-entry velocities (1m/s-6m/s) are investigated numerically and theoretically. The characteristics of impact pressure and structure deformation are obtained by using LS-DYNA code based on the proposed 3D multi-physics (air-water-solid) FEM model. Numerical results show that the average water impact pressure of LWPSPS is much lower than that of the monolithic plate with same mass. Moreover, a phenomenon called “local air cushion” is observed for LWPSPS which does not exist for a monolithic plate. Theoretical hydroelasticity analysis demonstrates that the FSI effect of LWPSPS is weak when the ratio of water impact duration time to wet natural vibration period is greater than 4. In the study, an engineering estimation method to predict the maximum deformation of the LWPSPS is proposed, in which the total deformation is divided into two parts, i.e. local field deformation and global field deformation, and they are both computed using analytical model. Good agreement between the numerical results and ones obtained from the proposed engineering estimation method is achieved. Furthermore, the geometric variation sensitiveness analysis is also conducted.