Synthesis and characterization of carbon nanoparticles and their modified carbon paste electrode for the determination of dopamine

•Synthesis of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) by a soot based method using castor oil.•The synthesized carbon nanoparticles were used for an electrochemical sensor application.•The CNPs modified carbon paste electrode shows excellent electrocatalytic activity.•It shows good selectivity and sensitivity towards electrochemical detection of dopamine.•The detection limit for dopamine was found to be 1.2 × 10−7 M.

In this paper, a green and facile approach is presented for the synthesis of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) by a soot based method using the natural precursor castor oil. The synthesized carbon nanoparticles were used in the detection and electrochemistry of dopamine (DA), ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA). The synthesized product is characterized by Powdered X-ray diffraction (PXRD), UV–visible absorption spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS) and Infrared spectroscopy (IR). CNPs modified carbon paste electrodes provided a detection limit for DA 1.2 × 10−7 M. The cyclic voltammetric response of DA at a carbon nanoparticles modified carbon paste electrode was excellent when compared to a bare carbon paste electrode. The effect of scan rate, concentration, and pH effects on the voltammogram of DA were studied as well as the effects of the surfactants sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and Triton X-100 (TX-100).

Graphical abstractIn this work, the synthesis of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) by soot based method using castor oil as a natural precursor. The synthesized CNPs were used for the electrochemical sensor applications. CNPs/SDS modified carbon paste electrode shows excellent selectivity and sensitivity towards dopamine in presence of high concentration of ascorbic acid and uric acid.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide