Design and preparation of sensitive Cd(II) electrochemical sensor based on ion-imprinted cysteamine-reduced graphene oxide and chitosan composite

A Cd(II)-imprinted electrochemical sensor based on CA-rGO/CS was constructed. • An extremely low detection limit of 0.05 μg/L was achieved. • The sensor exhibited excellent selectivity toward Cd(II) among interfering ions. • River water samples could be directly analyzed with high recovery rates (95%–102%). An ion-imprinted electrochemical sensor based on Cysteamine (CA)-reduced graphene oxide/chitosan (IIP/CA-rGO/CS/GCE) composite was constructed for the highly sensitive and selective detection of Cd(II) in aqueous solutions. The electrochemical performance of the sensor was systematically investigated using techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and its detection efficiency in real water samples was evaluated. Experimental results indicated that this functional sensor exhibited a very wide linear detection range of 0.1–160 μg/L and an extremely low detection limit of 0.05 μg/L for Cd(II). It demonstrated excellent recovery rates (95%–102%) and good repeatability (relative standard deviation, RSD ≤ 3.86%) in real water samples. Additionally, this sensor combines high sensitivity, high selectivity, and outstanding adaptability to real-world samples, providing an innovative and efficient approach for the electrochemical analysis of heavy metal ions. Download: Download high-res image (116KB) Download: Download full-size image