Dummy molecularly imprinted polymer nanochannel sensor for ultrasensitive detection of aniline compounds

Aniline pollutants can cause great harm to human health and the ecosystem, while rapid and selective quantification of aniline compounds in environment samples at trace levels is a highly complex target. In this study, a novel, efficient nanochannel sensor based on dummy molecularly imprinted polymer (DMIP) was fabricated. The sensor works on the principle of the ion current rectification across the asymmetric charged nanoporous capillary. With the help of the electric-concentration multi-field coupling model and controlled experiments, the ion distribution and transport in the nanoporous capillary. and the key influencing factors were examined for optimization of the sensor. At the concentration of 1 nmol/L ∼0.1 mmol/L, the rectification ratio of the nanosensor and logarithm aniline concentration exhibited a good linear relationship with the limit of detection of 0.2 nmol/L. The concentration of anilines in the real seawater sample was tested with the DMIP nanochannel sensor, and the average recovery rate was 88.31 %. The prepared DMIP nanochannel based sensor has established itself a promising method for trace aniline detection in real environmental samples, with the advantages of low cost, small size, simple operation, high accuracy and excellent reproducibility.