Electrochemical Sensor Based on a Composite of Reduced Graphene Oxide and Molecularly Imprinted Copolymer of Polyaniline-Poly(o-phenylenediamine) for Ciprofloxacin Determination: Fabrication, Characterization, and Performance Evaluation

Abstract

Contamination of antibiotics in water is a major cause of antibiotic resistance (ABR) in pathogens that endangers human health and food security worldwide. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a synthetic fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotic and is reportedly present in surface water at a concentration exceeding the ecotoxicological predicted no-effect concentration in some areas. This study fabricated a CIP sensor using an electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) of polyaniline (PANI) and poly(o-phenylenediamine) (o-PDA) with CIP recognition sites. The MIP was coated on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-modified glassy carbon electrode (rGO/GCE) and operated under a differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) mode for CIP detection. The sensor exhibited an excellent response from 1.0 × 10-9 to 5.0 × 10-7 mol L-1 CIP, showing a sensor detection limit and sensitivity of 5.28 × 10-11 mol L-1 and 5.78 μA mol-1 L, respectively. The sensor's sensitivity for CIP was 1.5 times higher than that of the other tested antibiotics, including enrofloxacin (ENR), ofloxacin (OFX), sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), and piperacillin sodium salt (PIP). The reproducibility and reusability of the sensor devices were also studied.