Highly selective electrochemical sensor for ascorbic acid based on a novel hybrid graphene-copper phthalocyanine-polyaniline nanocomposites

•A novel preparation method for nanocomposites, with CuPc immobilized on graphene in PANI matrix.•The Gr/CuPc/PANI enhanced selectivity and sensitivity of detecting AA due to graphene.•The constructed AA sensor shows excellent performances. In this work, we designed a novel electrochemical sensing platform based on graphene (Gr)/copper(II) phthalocyanine-tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt (CuPc)/polyaniline(PANI) nanocomposites. The prepared composites were used to modify screen printed electrodes (SPE) for selective determination of ascorbic acid (AA) in presence of dopamine (DA) and uric acid (UA). Copper phthalocyanine was immobilized on graphene sheets by π-π interaction by electrolytical exfoliation and resulting CuPc/graphene was embedded in a PANI matrix to prevent leakage of Gr/CuPc from electrodes. The Gr/CuPc/PANI nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry. The prepared modified electrode presents good electrocatalytic properties, fast response time, high stability and reproducibility. The performance of the sensor exhibited a linear range from 5×10−7 to 1.2×10−5M with low a limit of detection of 6.3×10−8M (S/N=3) and the sensitivity of the sensor was found to be 24.46μAmM−1. Moreover, the nanocomposites show excellent selectivity and lower potential for the oxidation of ascorbic acid. The novel sensor successfully applied to determination of AA in real samples with satisfactory results. This can open up new opportunities for fast, simple and selective detection of AA and provide a promising platform for sensor or biosensor designs for AA detection.