Sensitive and selective stripping voltammetric determination of copper(II) using a glassy carbon electrode modified with amino-reduced graphene oxide and β-cyclodextrin

We describe a square wave anodic stripping voltammetric (SWASV) platform for the determination of Cu(II). It is based on the use of amino-reduced graphene oxide (NH2-rGO) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) that were self-assembled on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The hydrophilicity and electrochemical performance of the resulting modified GCE were investigated by measurement of static contact angles, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Cu(II) was reduced at −1.1 V and then reoxidized at −0.012 V. Under optimum experimental conditions, the modified GCE exhibited excellent SWASV response in that the stripping peak currents (when sweeping between −0.3 and +0.25 V) depends on the concentration of Cu(II) in the 30 nM to 100 μM range. The limit of detection is 2.8 nM (at 3σ/slope). The modified GCE displaying good reproducibility, is stable, highly sensitive and selective. It was successfully applied to the determination of Cu(II) in synthetic and real water samples. The fast electron transfer rate and simple preparation of the NH2-rGO/β-CD composite makes it a promising electrode material for applications in sensing of heavy metal ions.