Electrocatalysis of asulam on cobalt phthalocyanine modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes immobilized on a basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode

This work describes the electrochemical properties of cobalt tetra-aminophthalocyanine (CoTAPc) complex electropolymerized at the surface of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) abrasively immobilized onto a basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode (BPPGE). The constructed electrode displayed excellent electrocatalytic behaviour towards the oxidation of the herbicide, asulam, as evidenced by the enhancement of the oxidation peak current (∼6 times) and the shift in the oxidation potential to lower values (by ∼120 mV) in comparison with the bare BPPGE. The chronoamperometric detection of asulam which was carried out in 0.10 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) at a fixed potential of 0.65 V (versus Ag|AgCl) yielded excellent analytical parameters; a linear concentration range of 4.5–20 μM, a sensitivity of 241 × 10−3 μA/μM, a detection limit of 1.15 μM asulam (using the YB + 3σ criterion) and a response time of ∼2 s.