Preparation of an Electrochemical Sensor Based on Surface Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Modified Electrode and its Application in Detection of Nitrocellulose

Abstract

In order to develop a novel method for the detection of nitrocellulose (NC), an electrochemical sensor based on silica surface molecularly imprinted polymers (SiO2/MIPs) modified electrode was prepared to detect NC. In addition, SiO2 non‐imprinted polymers‐based (SiO2/NIPs) sensor was prepared as a control. The response characteristic of SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor to NC was studied with [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− as a probe molecule. The SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor have an optimized current responsiveness to NC when it was prepared at temperature of 50 °C and 1 : 3 proportion of methacrylic acid to ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate. The current response of SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor is the most significant under the NC solution of 4.0 mg mL−1, incubation period of 1 min and [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− electrolyte of 5 mM. The SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor had the greatest response capacity for NC among the several analogues, which indicates that the SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor has a good specificity to NC. Furthermore, the SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor exhibited an excellent reproducibility in repeated measurements. Results show the prepared SiO2/MIPs‐based sensor can be a potential candidate for the detection of NC in the security checking and hazard control.