Enhanced detection of 4-nitrophenol in drinking water: ECL sensor utilizing velvet-like graphitic carbon nitride and...

In this work, a molecularly imprinted electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor was developed for selective detection of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in drinking water for the first time. By synthesizing velvet-like graphitic carbon nitride (V-g-C₃N₄) via one-step thermal polycondensation and integrating it with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), the ECL sensor was fabricated. The MIP-modified V-g-C₃N₄ composites (MIP/V-g-C₃N₄) were synthesized using a sol-gel method with 4-NP as the template molecule. Under optimal conditions, the ECL sensor exhibited a wide detection range (5 × 10^-10-1 × 10^-5 mol/L) and a low detection limit (1.8 × 10^-10 mol/L). In testing with actual drinking water samples, it displayed high accuracy (recoveries for intraday and inter-day: 93.50-106.2% and 97.00-107.3%, separately) and precision (RSDs for intraday and inter-day: 1.54-4.59% and 1.53-4.28%, respectively). The developed MIP-based ECL sensor demonstrated excellent selectivity, stability, and reproducibility, offering a promising and reliable approach for highly sensitive and selective determination of 4-NP in drinking water.