A Chitosan-Graphene Electrochemical Sensor for the Determination of Copper(II)

Graphite oxide was prepared by oxidizing graphite powder, reduced to graphene using hydrazine hydrate, and the grapheme was mixed with chitosan to form a composite that was used to modify a glassy carbon electrode for the determination of copper(II). The electrochemical behavior of the modified electrode was studied by cyclic and square wave voltammetries. The morphology and structure of the composite were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, the proportion of composite material, pH, and adsorption time was optimized. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the sensor showed a linear dynamic range from 1.0 × 10−9 to 1.5 × 10−8 mol · L−1 for copper(II) with a limit of detection of 4.3 × 10−10 mol · L−1 at a signal-to-noise ratio of three. The sensor displayed excellent electrochemical response and high sensitivity.