Preparation of copper (I) oxide nanohexagon decorated reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite and its application in electrochemical sensing of dopamine

• Cu2O nanohexagon–reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite has been prepared by in-situ reduction method.
• The rGO-Cu2O/GCE exhibited excellent catalytic properties for dopamine due to the synergistic action of the nanocomposite.
• The proposed sensor is highly selective toward dopamine in the presence of ascorbic acid and uric acid.

An electrochemical sensor using copper (I) oxide nanostructure decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite has been proposed for selective detection of dopamine. The rGO–Cu2O nanocomposite was synthesized by in-situ chemical reduction method and was characterized using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV–vis and Raman Spectroscopy, respectively. From Cyclic Voltammetric (CV) studies, it was inferred that rGO–Cu2O/GCE exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity toward dopamine, which is attributed to the enhanced conductivity as well as the synergistic effect of the nanocomposite. The sensing was carried out using Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) wherefrom a Limit of Detection (LOD) of 50 nM with a linear range from 10 µM to 900 µM was estimated. The effect of potential interfering agents such as Uric Acid (UA), Ascorbic Acid (AA), glucose, K+, Na+, Cl−, and SO4− ions toward sensing were investigated. The performance of the sensor toward the estimation of dopamine in human blood and urine samples were analyzed. The facile method for the preparation of a nanocomposite in conjunction with the low detection limit and the wide linear range for dopamine sensing is the advantage of this present study.

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