Molecularly Imprinted Polyresorcinol Based Capacitive Sensor for Sulphanilamide Detection

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based capacitive sensor for antibiotic detection in drinking water and milk has been developed on a gold coated silicon electrode (Au Electrode). The electrode was fabricated by electropolymerizing monomer resorcinol (RN) on Au surface in presence of sulphanilamide (SN) as a template molecule, to get insulated RN polymer antibiotic composite. The insulation of the polymer film was improved by incubation of electrode in 1‐Dodecanethiol solution. Subsequently MIP sensor was obtained by extraction of SN in ethanol and acetic acid solution. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were performed for characterization of the developed MIP electrode at different steps of fabrication. The surface morphology of MIP electrode was characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x‐ray spectroscopy (EDS). Performance of MIP sensor was evaluated by measuring change in capacitance against varying concentration of SN using EIS. A linear response in the range 1 to 200 μg L^?1 SN was recorded for MIP sensor with a detection limit of 0.1 μg L^?1. The developed MIP sensor exhibited good selectivity towards SN in water and milk with recoveries in the range 92 % to 105 %. The obtained results suggest the usability of MIP based sensor for SN estimation in water and milk samples.