Electrocatalytic Response of Dopamine at an Iron Nanoparticles-Nafion-Modified Carbon Paste Electrode.

Iron nanoparticles (INPs) were dispersed in Nafion solution to obtain a homogeneous INP-Nafion dispersion, and then a drop of this dispersion was cast on the surface of a carbon paste electrode (CPE) to fabricate an INP-Nafion-modified electrode. The electrochemical behavior of dopamine (DA) at this modified electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry in a pH 7.0 Britton-Robinson (B-R) buffer solution. The result showed that the modified CPE exhibited an obvious electrocatalytical response toward DA, with the anodic and cathodic peak potentials shifted negatively and positively respectively, and great enhance of the peak currents at the scan rate of 100 mV s-1. The effects of carbon paste constitution, amount of the dispersion, pH, and scan rate were investigated. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the peak currents determined by differential pulse voltammetry showed an excellent linear relationship with DA concentration in the range from 10 to 110 µM with the detection limit of 3.3 µM. In addition, ascorbic acid and some other possible interferents did not interfere with the voltammetric sensing of DA, and this method also had good stability and reproducibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]