Synthesis of polystyrene-grafted-graphene hybrid and its application in electrochemical sensor of dopamine

Abstract Polystyrene-grafted-graphene oxide hybrid was prepared via γ-ray irradiation-induced graft polymerization and then reduced to polystyrene-grafted-graphene hybrid by the solvothermal reduction method. The structure, thermal stability and morphology of polystyrene-grafted-graphene hybrid were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. It reveals that γ-ray irradiation is expected to be an effective and facile technique for scale-up preparation of polymer functionalized graphene. The hybrid modified glassy carbon electrodes were applied to the electrochemical sensor of dopamine and a good linearity with the concentration in the range of 5–100 μM was obtained. The excellent behavior as electrochemical sensor of the polymer functionalized hybrid may lead to new applications in electrochemical analysis.