Phenol monitoring in water samples using an inexpensive electrochemical sensor based on pencil electrodes modified with DTAB surfactant

Abstract Phenol (PNL) and phenolic compounds are major contaminants for water sources as they are used for the production of many industrial products. Herein, it is aimed to fabricate a novel voltammetric sensor platform for selective, sensitive, and practical detection of PNL. For this purpose, pencil graphite electrodes (PGEs) were modified with dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) surfactant as the first time in the literature. The optimizations of the experimental conditions for modification of DTAB at the surface of PGEs were done, then the oxidation signal of PNL was measured at +0.660 V using DTAB-PGEs. Enhanced PNL signal was obtained by using DTAB-PGEs and sensitive detection of PNL was achieved. PNL detection was successfully performed in not only buffer solution but also in tap water and industrial wastewater by reaching the detection limits as 0.16 µg/mL, 0.12 µg/mL, and 0.24 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, DTAB-PGEs eliminated the interference effects of inorganic and organic compounds for the detection of PNL. This is the first study in the literature in terms of the development of DTAB-PGEs and non-enzymatic voltammetric detection of PNL by using DTAB-PGEs.