Electrochemical sensing platform for tetrabromobisphenol A at pM level based on the synergetic enhancement effects of graphene and dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide

• Novel electrochemical sensing platform for toxic TBBPA at pM level.
• Remarkable synergetic effects from exfoliated graphene and DDAB composite film.
• Good reproducibility, selectivity and accuracy.

Graphene nanosheets (GS) were prepared via solvent exfoliation, and then hybridized with dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB). On the single surface of DDAB and GS film, the direct oxidation activities of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) are improved effectively, and consequently the oxidation signals enhance obviously. Interestingly, the composite of DDAB and GS exhibits remarkable synergetic effects toward the oxidation of TBBPA, and the peak currents of TBBPA further increase greatly on the DDAB-GS composite film. The signal enhancement mechanism was studied using chronocoulometry. It is found that the greatly-increased accumulation efficiency is the main reason. As a result, a novel electrochemical sensing platform was developed for TBBPA. The linear range is from 0.1 to 400 μg L−1, and the detection limit is as low as 41.8 ng L−1 (76.8 pM). The practical applications in water samples manifest that this new determination system is accurate and feasible.

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