Graphene/polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyaniline nanocomposite-modified electrode for simultaneous determination of parabens by high performance liquid chromatography

• A novel G/PVP/PANI nanocomposite-modified SPCE was developed for HPLC.
• Highly sensitive detection of parabens using a novel nanocomposite was achieved.
• The separation of five parabens was accomplished in 12 min.
• LOD and LOQ were found to be very low at micromolar level.
• This method was successfully applied to determine five parabens in real samples.

A nanocomposite of graphene (G), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyaniline (PANI) modified onto screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) using an electrospraying technique was developed for simultaneous determination of five parabens in beverages and cosmetic products by high performance liquid chromatography. PVP and PANI were used as the dispersing agents of graphene, and also for the enhancement of electrochemical conductivity of the electrode. The electrochemical behavior of each paraben was investigated using the G/PVP/PANI nanocomposite-modified SPCE, compared to the unmodified SPCE. Using HPLC along with amperometric detection at a controlled potential of +1.2 V vs Ag/AgCl, the chromatogram of five parabens obtained from the modified SPCE exhibits well defined peaks and higher current response than those of its unmodified counterpart. Under the optimal conditions, the calibration curves of five parabens similarly provide a linear range between 0.1 and 30 µg mL−1 with the detection limits of 0.01 µg mL−1for methyl paraben (MP), ethyl paraben (EP) and propyl paraben (PP), 0.02 and 0.03 µg mL−1 for isobutyl paraben (IBP) and butyl paraben (BP), respectively. Furthermore, this proposed method was applied for the simultaneous determination of five parabens in real samples including a soft drink and a cosmetic product with satisfactory results, yielding the recovery in the range of 90.4–105.0%.

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