An electro-active amphiphilic copolymer to functionalize carbon nanotubes for highly sensitive determination of nitrite in water

Abstract Carbon nanotubules (CNTs) are an attractive material to enhance the properties of electrochemical sensors because of their excellent conductivity. However, their poor dispersibility limits their application. In this paper, CNTs were successfully dispersed and stabilized through co-assembly with the copolymer poly(VMc- co -VCz- co -AA) (PCMA). The resulting PCMA/CNT sensor was able to rapidly measure nitrite with a low detection limit (0.067 μM), and a wide linear range of 1 μm - 4 mM. It also exhibited high sensitivity, good selectivity and long-term stability.