The Application of Glassy Carbon Electrode Modified by Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes for the Fast Determination of Hydroquinone in Wastewater

Abstract

A novel multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with excellent stability, repeatability and anti-interference was synthesized and it exhibited an electrocatalytic signal for hydroquinone (HQ) compared to bare GCE, which suggested that the presence of MWCNTs efficiently enhances electron transfer. Various parameters such as pH, modifier volume, and scan rate were optimized using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) methods. Under optimum conditions, linear responses for HQ in 0.1mol·L-1 phosphate buffer solution of pH 6.0 were obtained in the range of 5×10-6 mol·L-1 to 2×10-4 mol·L-1 with detection limits of 2.7×10-6 mol·L-1 (signal-to-noise ratio of 3). Such MWCNTs-modified GCE was successfully applied for the determination of hydroquinone in simulated water samples and can be developed for the the detection of HQ.