ABSTRACT:

A coral-like macroporous Au electrode with electroplated Pt nanoparticles (hybrid macroporous Au-/nPts) coated with Nafion has been fabricated for the first time and used for highly selective and sensitive determination of dopamine (DA). The physically characterized results indicated that the electroplated Pt nanoparticles were dispersed uniformly on the macroporous Au electrode. The porosity and window pore size of the fabricated macroporous Au electrode were 50% and 100–300 nm, respectively. Also the electroplated Pt nanoparticles size was approximately 10–20 nm. The cyclic voltammograms results showed that the hybrid macroporous Au-/nPts exhibited a much larger surface activation area, a roughness factor (RF) of 2024.7, much higher than that of the macroporous Au electrode, which is 46.07. The electrochemical experimental results showed that the hybrid macroporous Au-/nPts coated with Nafion exhibited a dramatic electrocatalytic effect on the oxidation of DA. At 0.1 V, it responded linearly to DA concentrations ranging from 20 $mu$M to 160 $mu$M with a detection sensitivity of 90.9 $mu$A mM$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. Furthermore, it showed wide detection ranging from 20 nM to 900 $mu$M. At the same time, the interference of ascorbic acid (AA) was effectively avoided because of the Nafion film coated on the surface of the hybrid electrode.