Electrochemical sensor based on ZIF-8@dimethylglyoxime and β-cyclodextrin modified reduced graphene oxide for nickel (II) detection

In this paper, a sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor was constructed for nickel (II) detection by employing the electrode material of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8@dimethylglyoxime/β-cyclodextrin/reduced graphene oxide (ZIF-8@DMG/β-CD/RGO). The material was characterized and analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms in detail. In these composite, ZIF-8 served as the supporting material of DMG which was the selective complexing agent to Ni (II), RGO employed conductivity while β-CD prevented the aggregation of RGO sheets. With these features, the sensor showed a wide linear range of 0.01–1.0 μM and a low detection limit of 0.005 μM (S/N = 3). Interferences of diethanol, citric acid , humic acid, Triton X-100 and some common metal ions can be ignored to some extent. Finally, the sensor was applied to Ni (II) detection in real water sample.