Electro-Catalytic Behavior of Multiwall Carbon Nanotube-Doped Poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) toward Environmental Pollutant Bisphenol A

• Published in: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Vol. 166; no. 15; pp. H810 - H818
• Main Authors: Qu, Ke, Bai, Yuqi, Liu, Xuan, Deng, Miao, Wu, Lan, Chen, Zeqin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Electrochemical Society 2019
• ISSN: 0013-4651; 1945-7111
• DOI: 10.1149/2.0951915jes

One striking property of poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) lies in its ability to catalyze some electrode reactions, such as the oxygen reduction reaction. However, PEDOT's catalytic performances on organic molecules of analytical interests have not been reported extensively. In this work, the unique electro-catalytic function of PEDOT, doped by multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT), toward the environmental organic pollutant bisphenol A (BPA) has been explored. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectra validated the well-dispersion of the MWCNT dopant within PEDOT layers to constitute the PEDOT/MWCNT composite. PEDOT and PEDOT/MWCNT were both characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The fabricated electrochemical sensor showed good performance in detecting BPA, giving wide linear ranges of 10 μM to 0.1 mM and 0.1 to 5 mM. Density functional theory calculations were performed on different (EDOT)n...BPA (n = 3, 5, 7, 9, 12) complexes, which showed that strong hydrogen bonding interactions dominated and offered possible explanations on the enhanced electro-catalytic function of PEDOT toward BPA.