cu decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes: application to electrocatalytic oxidation and determination of 4-nitrophenol in river water samples by square-wave voltammetry

A simple and fast electrochemical method was described and evaluated for the determination of hazardous compound, 4-nitrophenol. in this work, trace amounts of 4- nitrophenol were determined by square – wave voltammetry. a glassy carbon electrode was modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and copper nanoparticles. a synergistic effect was observed between cu nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes which resulted in enhanced oxidation peak current of 4-nitrophenol. the modified electrode showed more sensitivity towards 4-nitrophenol compared to unmodified one. a wide linear concentration range from 0.2 to 298.0 μm was obtained for 4-nitrophenol with a detection limit of 0.06 μm. reproducibility and repeatability of the method were evaluated for determination of 4-nitrophenol (0.1 mm) as 3.47% and 2.30%, respectively (relative standard deviation, rsd %), which are acceptable. the method was applied to the analysis of 4- nitrophenol (22.2 μm) in spiked river water samples, successfully. simplicity, sensitivity, selectivity and high efficiency of the proposed method can be used in routine analysis of trace amounts of 4-nitrophenol in polluted waters.