Construction and application of a novel electrochemical sensor for trace determination of uranium based on ion-imprinted polymers modified glassy carbon electrode

Abstract

In the present work, a novel electrochemical sensor modified glassy carbon electrode with ion-imprinted polymers (IIP-GCE) was applied for uranyl ions (UO₂²⁺) determination. Surface modifier was synthesized through precipitation polymerization method, using acrylic acid as a monomer, benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as initiator, and trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) as cross-linker. A new uranyl-trans-3-(3-pyridyl) acrylic acid complex was employed, serving as an active and specific site on the synthesized modifier. Next, the synthesized modifier was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. UO₂²⁺ ions were detected using a differential pulse adsorptive anodic stripping voltammetry method. Under the optimized conditions (pH = 8.0, pre-concentration time = 10 min and pre-concentration potential = −0.30 V), the modified electrode exhibited linear behavior in the interval of 1.27–95.49 μg.L⁻¹ with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.43 μg.L⁻¹. Also, the constructed ion-imprinted sensor showed a successful application for determining UO₂²⁺ ions with recovery range of 97.6–101% in real samples.