Facile immobilization of potassium-copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticles using a room-temperature ionic liquid as an ionic binder and its application towards BHA determination

In this paper, a facile immobilization of copper hexacyanoferrate nanoparticles (CuHCFNP) on a paraffin wax-impregnated graphite electrode (PIGE) was carried out using the room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIMBF4) as an ionic binder. The characteristics of the CuHCFNP/EMIMBF4 gel-modified electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques, and the modified electrode morphology was also characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The electrocatalytic behavior of butylated hydroxyl anisole (BHA) at the modified electrode has been investigated in 0.1 M KNO3 in static and dynamic conditions. Under the optimum conditions, the oxidation peak current was proportional to the BHA concentration in the range from 1.5 to 1000 μM with a detection limit of 0.5 μM (S/N = 3). The proposed method was applied to determine BHA content in real samples with satisfactory results.