A sensitive electrochemical sensor based on ZIF-8–acetylene black–chitosan nanocomposites for rutin detection

Herein, we fabricated a sensitive rutin electrochemical sensor via modifying glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and acetylene black (AB) in the presence of chitosan (CS). The electrochemical activity and experimental parameters of the ZIF-8-AB-CS/GCE sensor were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Under the optimal conditions, the sensor presented a reasonable linear response in the range of 0.1–10 μM with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.004 μM (S/N = 3). The sensor possessed good reproducibility and high stability, and was successfully applied to detect rutin tablet samples with satisfactory results, which was attributed to the synergistic effect between ZIF-8 and AB. Meanwhile, the sensor displayed a potential application for detection of other analytes in real samples. Furthermore, a probable interaction mechanism was proposed to account for the interaction between rutin and the nanocomposite electrode, which was not discussed in previous reports.