Three Dimensional Ordered Macroporous Electrochemical Sensor for Dopamine Recognition and Detection

A novel kind of electrochemical sensor was developed by combining the molecularly imprinting and silica colloidal crystal template (SCCT) techniques in this work. Pyrrole was electropolymerized onto the SCCT modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface in the presence of dopamine (DA). Then a three dimensional ordered macroporous (3DOM) structured molecularly imprinted polymer (MIPs) electrochemical sensor (3DOM-MIPs/GCE) was obtained by etching of silica microspheres and extracting of DA successively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed to characterize the prepared process of the sensor. Due to the high surface area and thin wall of 3DOM imprinted polymers on the electrode surface, the prepared sensor provided much more efficient imprinted sites and exhibited a fast binding dynamics, good specific adsorption capacity, and high selective recognition to template molecule. And the sensor could also be used for DA determining. Peak current of DA varied linearly with the concentration of DA in the range of 2.0×10 -6 ~ 2.3 ×10 -4 mol L -1 with a detection limit of 9.0 ×10 -7 mol L -1 .