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Photoelectrochemical aptasensor for sulfadimethoxine using g-C3N4 quantum dots modified with reduced graphene oxide

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Abstract

A novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) aptasensor with graphitic-phase carbon nitride quantum dots (g-C3N4; QDs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was fabricated. The g-C3N4 QDs possess enhanced emission quantum yield (with an emission peak at 450 nm), improved charge separation ability and effective optical absorption, while rGO has excellent electron transfer capability. Altogether, this results in improved PEC performance. The method is making use of an aptamer against sulfadimethoxine (SDM) that was immobilized on electrode through π stacking interaction. Changes of the photocurrent occur because SDM as a photogenerated hole acceptor can further accelerate the separation of photoexcited carriers. Under optimized conditions and at an applied potential of +0.2 V, the aptasensor has a linear response in the 0.5 nM to 80 nM SDM concentration range, with a 0.1 nM detection limit (at S/N = 3). The method was successfully applied to the analysis of SDM in tap, lake and waste water samples.

Graphitic-phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4) quantum dots (QDs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were used to modify fluorine-doped SnO2 (FTO) electrodes for use in a photoelectrochemical (PEC) aptasensor. SDM oxidized by the hole on valance band (VB) of g-C3N4 QDs promote the separation of electron in the conductive band (CB), which made the changes of photocurrent signal.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21777012), the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B13012) and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT_13R05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering (Ministry of Education, China), School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Xueming Dang, Huimin Zhao, Xiaona Wang, Tangnuer Sailijiang, Shuo Chen & Xie Quan

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  1. Xueming Dang
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  2. Huimin Zhao
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Correspondence to Huimin Zhao.

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Dang, X., Zhao, H., Wang, X. et al. Photoelectrochemical aptasensor for sulfadimethoxine using g-C3N4 quantum dots modified with reduced graphene oxide. Microchim Acta 185, 345 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2877-4

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