Synthesis and application of reduced graphene oxide and molecularly imprinted polymers composite in chemo sensor for trichloroacetic acid detection in aqueous solution

• Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and MIP composite were employed in fabricating a chemo sensor.
• The fabricated sensor for TCAA is fast, cheap and easy to fabricate.
• MIP could selectively bind with TCAA and showed high adsorption capacity.
• TCAA imprinted polymers were used as a sensing element while RGO enhanced sensor’s signal.
• The working range of the sensor was found to be between 0.5 and 100 μg/mL of TCAA in water.

This work presents the fabrication of a simple, cheap and fast thin film chemo sensor for detection of trichloroacetic acid (TCAA) in aqueous solutions. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) based molecular imprinted polymers (MIP) chemo-sensor has been developed. The recognition of TCAA was achieved by imprinted polymers synthesized by copolymerization of 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) and a crosslinking monomer ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDGMA) in acetonitrile using bulk polymerization method. Adsorption studies to determine the rebinding properties of the MIP with the template were conducted using UV Visible spectrophotometer. The fabricated sensor exhibited high recognition ability and affinity for HAA in comparison with the non-imprinted one which was employed as a control, this indicated that the MIP could selectively rebind with TCAA. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was used to improve conductivity of the sensor; RGO was obtained from reduction of graphene oxide (GO) synthesized using modified Stauddmer and Hummers method. Polysulphone was used in solution blending of MIP and RGO to form a hybrid which was deposited between two gold plated electrodes by spin coating to form a thin film. The performance of the imprinted sensor was studied using a homemade circuit. The results demonstrate that the sensor based on TCAA-imprinted polymer is fast, cheap and sensitive screening method of TCAA in drinking water.