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Printed flexible bifunctional electrochemical urea-pH sensor based on multiwalled carbon nanotube/polyaniline electronic ink

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A Correction to this article was published on 22 February 2019

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Abstract

Urea concentration and pH are two crucial parameters in food and clinical analysis. Traditional analytical methods of urea and pH determination are unsuitable for field and involve complex instrumentation or and enzyme-based assays. In this study, we used screen printing technology to prepare an electrochemical sensor with a carbon electrode modified by a multiwalled carbon nanotube/polyaniline (MWCNT/PANi) composite for the simultaneous detection of urea and pH. Urea was detected by a simple current–potential (I–V) experiment and its concentration level on the MWCNT/PANi-modified screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) surface was determined by cyclic voltammetry. The MWCNT/PANi-modified SPCE had a linear response (R2 = 0.99902), lower detection limit, higher selectivity, and higher sensitivity than reported biosensors. Specifically, the detection limit was 10 µM and the sensitivity was 0.38 mA mM−1 cm−2 in the urea concentration range of 10–50 µM. Chronoamperometry was applied to investigate the changes in voltage on the MWCNT/PANi-modified SPCE with varying solution pH. The sensor exhibited excellent linearity (R2 = 0.99089) and an average sensitivity of 20.63 mV/pH over a wide pH range of 2–11. Thus, the MWCNT/PANi-modified SPCE has a promising field application as a simple, bifunctional non-enzymatic sensor.

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  • 22 February 2019

    In the original version of this article, Fig. 7a, b and c was unfortunately displayed incorrectly.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51502203), the Tianjin Young Overseas High-level Talent Plans (Grant No. 01001502), the Tianjin Science and Technology Foundation (Grant No. 17ZXZNGX00090) and Tianjin Development Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

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Author notes

  1. Qiwen Bao and Zhengchun Yang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Film Electronic & Communication Devices, Advanced Materials and Printed Electronics Center, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Qiwen Bao, Zhengchun Yang, Yanfei Song, Meiying Fan, Peng Pan, Jun Liu & Jun Wei

  2. Pony Testing International Group, Tianjin, 300110, China

    Zhenyu Liao

  3. Tianjin Food Safety Inspection Technology Institute, Tianjin, 300308, China

    Zhenyu Liao

  4. Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 638075, Singapore

    Jun Wei

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  1. Qiwen Bao
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Correspondence to Peng Pan, Jun Liu or Zhenyu Liao.

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Bao, Q., Yang, Z., Song, Y. et al. Printed flexible bifunctional electrochemical urea-pH sensor based on multiwalled carbon nanotube/polyaniline electronic ink. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 30, 1751–1759 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-0447-5

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