Electroless deposition of Au nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide/polyimide film for electrochemical detection of hydroquinone and catechol

An electrochemical sensor for determination of hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC) was developed using Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) fabricated on reduced graphene oxide/polyimide (PI/RGO) film by electroless deposition. The electrochemical behaviors of HQ and CC at PI/RGO-AuNPs electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Under the optimized condition, the current responses at PI/RGO-AuNPs electrode were linear over ranges from 1 to 654 mol/L for HQ and from 2 to 1289 mol/L for CC, with the detection limits of 0.09 and 0.2 mol/L, respectively. The proposed electrode exhibited good reproducibility, stability and selectivity. In addition, the proposed electrode was successfully applied in the determination of HQ and CC in tap water and the Yellow River samples.