Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped reduced graphene oxide-gold nanoparticle composites for electrochemical sensing of rutin

• DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2020.105684
• Publication Date: 2020-10-31T07:33:15Z
• Authors: Fen-Ying Kong; Rong-Fang Li; Sheng-Feng Zhang; Zhong-Xia Wang; Heng-Ye Li; Hai-Lin Fang; Wei Wang
• Keywords: Nanochemistry; Electrochemical gas sensor; Heteroatom

Abstract The extraordinary biological and physiological properties of rutin have been used in the preparation of therapeutical drugs. So it is very significant to develop a simple and sensitive method for rutin determaination in pharmaceutical samples. Herein, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped reduced graphene oxide attached with gold nanoparticles (NS-rGO/AuNPs) was developed for electrochemical determination of rutin. The NS-rGO was first prepared by a simple one-step thermal annealing method, and AuNPs were embedded onto NS-rGO through the interaction force of Au with N and S atoms. Detailed characterizations showed that the AuNPs are well dispersed and the presence of nitrogen and sulfur are significant. The NS-rGO/AuNPs modified electrode exhibited a significantly enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards rutin compared with NS-rGO, N-rGO and S-rGO modified electrodes. The excellent performance was achieved by the synergistic effect of AuNPs and heteroatoms co-doping. As a consequence, the NS-rGO/AuNPs based sensor showed a wide linear range of 0.2–1400 nM with a nanomolar detection limit of 0.067 nM (S/N = 3). Also the sensor exhibited satisfying selectivity, reproducibility, and stability. Finally, the sensor was successfully used to determine rutin in pharmaceutical tablets.