The Anti-Fouling Effect of Surfactants and Its Application for Electrochemical Detection of Bisphenol A

In this paper, the application of the surfactants as an anti-fouling and pre-concentrating agent has been investigated for the electrochemical determination of bisphenol A (BPA) on a carbon nanotubes (CNTs) modified glassy carbon electrode. The direct measurement, standing time and stirring time in the BPA solution were studied to repel the oxidation products on electrode surface and reduced electrode fouling to improve the sensitivity of the modified electrode during detection process. After optimization of experimental parameters, the addition of 0.2 g L −1 Tween 20 and a stirring of 30 s both contributed to weaken the fouling effect and increase the sensitivity, in comparison of direct measurement at a bare electrode and a CNTs modified electrode. The oxidation current intensity was proportional to the concentration of BPA with a wide concentration range from 1 to 100 μmol L −1 . The limit of detection was 0.3 μmol L −1 .