A facile fabrication of a hierarchical ZIF-8/MWCNT nanocomposite for the sensitive determination of rutin.

In this paper, a novel type of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) polyhedron/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) modified electrode was successfully prepared for effective on-site detection of rutin. The morphology and microstructure of the ZIF-8/MWCNT nanocomposite were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical performance of the ZIF-8/MWCNT based electrode for the determination of rutin was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse stripping voltammetry (DPV). The as-prepared sensor illustrates better electrocatalytic activity and lower background current than the MWCNT modified electrode for the oxidation of rutin. Besides, the ZIF-8/MWCNTs sensor offers a remarkable linear response for rutin concentrations from 0.1 to 15 μM. The detection limit (LOD) was calculated to be 0.26 nM (S/N = 3). Also, the ZIF-8/MWCNT electrode showed high anti-interference ability towards common interfering species. More importantly, the fabricated electrode was quickly evaluated for determination of rutin in medicine tablets with satisfactory recoveries and the obtained results successfully achieved good consistency with the data from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Finally, the method shows an enhanced electrocatalytic property and sensitivity for the analysis of rutin, which may provide an economical and promising electrochemical sensor for practical on-site detection of rutin.