Fullerene/MWCNT/Nafion Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode for the Electrochemical Determination of Caffeine
Kevin Yemélé Tajeu, Liliane M. Dongmo, Ignas Kenfack Tonlé
Abstract
Herein, a convenient method based on a fullerene/multiwalled carbon nanotube/Nafion modified glassy carbon electrode (fullerene/MWCNT/Naf/GCE) for the electrochemical determination of caffeine (CAF) is reported. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to study ionic exchange properties and conductivity the proposed electrode using [Fe(CN)6]3-/4- redox couple. Caffeine gave an irreversible oxidation peak around +1.33 V (vs. Ag/AgCl reference electrode) in HClO4 (pH 1). The linear dependence of the peak current with the square root of the scan rate showed that the electron transfer process is controlled by diffusion. After optimization of key analytical parameters involved in differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), the oxidation peak current varied linearly with CAF concentration in the range of 10 to 1000 μM. A detection limit of 7.289 × 10-8 M (S/N = 3) was found. Kinetic and chronocoulometric studies were also performed to characterize the diffusion of CAF. The developed electrode exhibited good stability and was easily regenerated. The influence of some potential interfering compounds such as dopamine, uric acid, glucose and sulfite ions on the anodic peak current of CAF was also examined. The proposed method was successfully employed in the determination of CAF in some commercial drugs.