Electrochemical Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Polyaniline Network on 3-Aminobenzenesulfonic Acid Functionalized Glassy Carbon Electrode and Its Application

The electrochemical synthesis of three-dimensional (3D) polyaniline (PAN) network structure on 3-aminobenzenesulfonic acid (ABSA) functionalized glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and its electro-catalytic oxidation towards ascorbic acid (AA) had been studied. ABSA was first covalently grafted on GCE surface via the direct electrochemical oxidation of ABSA on GCE, which was followed by the electrochemical polymerization of aniline on the ABSA functionalized GCE. Then PAN-ABSA composite film modified GCE (PAN-ABSA/GCE) was obtained. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical techniques had been employed to characterize the obtained electrodes. Due to the effective doping of ABSA in PAN, the redox electro-activity of PAN had been extended to neutral and even the basic media, thus, the PAN-ABSA composite film modified GCE could be used for electro-catalytic oxidation of AA in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 6.8). At PAN-ABSA/GCE the oxidation over-potential of AA shifted from 0.39 V at GCE to 0.17 V with a greatly enhanced current response. The electro-catalytic oxidation peak current of AA increased linearly with the increasing AA concentration over the range of 5.00 × 10-4-1.65 × 10-2 M with a correlation coefficient of 0.9973. The detection limit (S/N = 3) for AA was 1.16 × 10-6 M. Chronoamperometry had also been employed to investigate the electro-catalytic oxidation of AA at PAN-ABSA/GCE. The modified electrode had been used for detecting AA in real samples with satisfactory results.