Fabrication of multiwalled carbon nanotubes/polyaniline modified Au electrode for ascorbic acid determination

An ascorbate oxidase (AsOx) (E.C.1.10.3.3) purified from Lagenaria siceraria fruit was immobilized covalently onto a carboxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes and polyaniline (c-MWCNT/PANI) layer electrochemically deposited on the surface of an Au electrode. The diffusion coefficient of ascorbic acid was determined as 3.05 x 10(-4) cm(2) s(-1). The behavior of different electrolytes on electro-deposition was also studied. An ascorbate biosensor was fabricated using a AsOx/c-MWCNT/PANI/Au electrode as a working electrode, Ag/AgCl (3 M/saturated KCl) as standard and Pt wire as an auxiliary electrode connected through a potentiostat. Linear range, response time and detection limit were 2-206 mu M, 2 s and 0.9 mu M respectively. The biosensor showed optimum response at pH 5.8 and in a broader temperature range (30-45 degrees C), when polarized at +0.6 V. The biosensor was employed for determination of ascorbic acid level in sera, fruit juices and vitamin C tablets. The sensor was evaluated with 91% recovery of added ascorbic acid in sera and 6.5% and 11.4% within and between batch coefficients of variation respectively for five serum samples. There was a good correlation (r = 0.98) between fruit juice ascorbic acid values by the standard 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) method and the present method. The enzyme electrode was used 200 times over a period of two months, when stored at 4 degrees C. The biosensor has advantages over earlier enzyme sensors in that it has no leakage of enzyme, due to the covalent coupling of enzyme with the support, lower response time, wider working range, higher storage stability and no interference by serum substances.