Sensitive electrochemical determination of rhodamine B based on cyclodextrin-functionalized nanogold/hollow carbon nanospheres

Due to being harmful to the human health, the qualitative and quantitative determination of rhodamine B (RhB) is of great significance. In this paper, per-6-thio-β-cyclodextrin functionalized nanogold/hollow carbon nanospheres (β-CD-AuNPs/HCNS) nanohybrids were prepared and then applied successfully for the highly sensitive electrochemical detection of RhB. Due to the synergetic effects from the HCNS (excellent electrochemical properties and large surface area), β-CD (high host–guest recognition and water-solubility) and AuNPs (excellent electrocatalytic activity), the oxidation peak currents of RhB on the β-CD-AuNPs/HCNS modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) are much higher than those on the AuNPs/HCNS/GCE and bare GCE. The β-CD-AuNPs/HCNS/GCE has a linear response range of 4.79–958.00 μg L−1 with a detection limit of 0.96 μg L−1 for RhB.