Solid phase mechanochemical synthesis of Poly(o-anisidine) protected Silver nanoparticles for electrochemical dopamine sensor

Abstract Among the π-conjugate conducting polymers, polyaniline derivatives have much attention and attraction due to their efficient applications in many fields in the past three decade. In this work, we have reported the in-situ synthesis of Poly(o-anisidine) (POA) and POA protected Silver nanoparticles (POA@Ag) nanocomposites by green approach like solid phase mechanochemical method using sulfate salt of o-anisidine (o-Anisidine hydrogen sulfate or anisidinium sulfate) as a monomer and AgNO3 is play a vital role as a metal precursor as well as oxidant. The structure, morphology, composition, size, crystallinity and thermal stability of POA@Ag were analyzed using various instruments techniques. The transformation of emeraldine salt to emeraldine base form in its polymeric backbone is monitored by UV–vis and FT-IR studies in detail. The electrochemical performances of newly fabricated POA@Ag/GCE obtained more stability over the detection of dopamine (DA) and high sensitivity in trace level by the methods of Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV) and chronoamperometry. The working linear ranges of the electrode by DPV and chronoamperometry was 10–130 μM, 5–45 μM and its detection limits 2.8 and 0.83 μM, respectively. Furthermore, POA@Ag/GCE sensor has excellent selectively towards the detection of DA in presence of additional electroactive agent.