A molecularly imprinted electrochemical enzymeless sensor based on functionalized gold nanoparticle decorated carbon nanotubes for methyl-parathion detection

Functionalized gold nanoparticles (FuAuNP) have potential applications because of their specific functional groups. p-Aminothiophenol (p-ATP) possesses double functional groups that can be used to form an S–Au bond and oligoaniline. Based on molecular imprinting technology and electrochemical technology, a novel enzymeless methyl-parathion (MP) sensor has been constructed with nanocomposites. The template molecule (MP) is embedded in the imprinting sites by p-ATP molecular self-assembly and FuAuNP electro-polymerization. The imprinting effective sites and the conductive performance are improved by gold nanoparticles decorated carbon nanotube nanocomposites (AuNP–MCNT). The linear relationships between peak current and MP concentration are obtained in the range from 0.1 to 1.1 ng mL−1 and 1.1 to 11 ng mL−1, respectively. The detection limit can be achieved as low as 0.08 ng mL−1 (3σ) with relative standard deviation of 3.8% (n = 5). This sensor was also applied for the detection of MP in apples and vegetables, with average recoveries between 95.2% and 105.7% (RSD < 5%). The results mentioned above show that the novel electrochemical sensor is an ideal device for the real-time determination of MP in real samples.