Highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for tulobuterol detection based on facile graphene/Au nanowires modified glassy carbon electrode

•The facile well-dispersed graphene/Au nanowires were prepared without any mediator agents.•Graphene/Au nanowires were used to fabricate the sensor for detecting tulobuterol.•The sensor showed a low detection limit of 1.36 × 10−8 mol L−1 for tulobuterol.

Graphene/Au nanowire (G/Au NW) composites were prepared facilely by mixing well-dispersed graphene and Au nanowires and used to modify the glassy carbon electrodes as a tulobuterol electrochemical sensor. The modification activity of the composites was investigated with the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique. A sensitive, rapid and simple electrochemical method was developed for the detection of tulobuterol based on the strong enhancement effect of G/Au NWs. The peak currents varied linearly with the concentration of tulobuterol over the range from 7.6 × 10−8 to 7.6 × 10−6 mol L−1, and the detection limit was 1.36 × 10−8 mol L−1 (S/N = 3). The electrode developed can be used for the electroanalytical detection of tulobuterol and provide a potential application of tulobuterol in further research.