Stripping voltammetric determination of europium via ultraviolet-trigger synthesis of ion imprinted membrane

To solve the problem that the ion-imprinted membrane modified on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) usually easily falls off, a screen printed electrode (SPE) which has a relative rough surface than GCE, was selected as the base electrode for preparation of an ion-imprinted sensor for determination of Eu(III). The sensor was obtained by modifying SPE successively with carboxylic multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNs-COOH) as signal amplifying element and Eu(III) ion-imprinted membrane (Eu(III)-IIM) as specific recognition material. To avoid damaging SPE by thermal initiation, the Eu(III)-IIM was prepared via radical photopolymerization at 380 nm using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. Differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry (DPASV) was used for determination of Eu3+ by the obtained sensor. After the detection condition was optimized in detail, the sensor showed a linear response to Eu3+ in the concentration range of 1.0 × 10−7-1.0 × 10−3 mol L−1 with the detection limit of 4.0 × 10−8 mol L−1. The obtained sensor possesses of good regeneration, stability and practicability, it can maintain more than 95% of its original response after used more than 30 times or stored in the water for two months. The satisfactory results with the relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 3.5% (n = 5) were obtained for the determination of europium in water samples by the novel sensor.