Sensibility of polyaniline nanofibers to biomarker of benzene recognized as a carcinogen

Summary Alarming situation of toxic substances such as benzene and its analogs in the environment and workplaces, making it important to monitor these chemicals and their metabolites in order to evaluate risk hazards and potential problems caused by exposure to toxic compounds. Benzene is omnipresent in usage across industries. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which is a part of World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Benzene as a human carcinogen. trans-trans Muconic acid (ttMA) is the most important biomarker of benzene for biomonitoring of its low level exposure. In this paper the sensing ability of polyaniline (PANI) to ttMA is investigated for development of cheap, portable and effective electrochemical biosensor. To take this ahead for biosensor device application, successful self-assembling of PANI nanofibers of 40–70 nm range on SS 304 working electrode was achieved. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction was used to characterize the chemical structure of PANI. Morphology of sample was observed by field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM). The detection potential of ttMA in phosphate buffer solution of pH 5.8 acting as a supporting electrolyte was found to be at 0.26 V by linear sweep voltammetry.