Zinc(II) modified carbon paste electrodes based on self-assembled mercapto compounds-gold-nanoparticles for its determination in water samples

•Fabrication of new modified GNPs-CPE was used for determination of Zn(II).•The GNPs-CPE shows high performance characteristic with respect to selectivity and sensitivity.•SPE shows high selectivity with no interference from the studied cations and anions.•GNPs-CPE was successfully used for determination of Zn(II) in polluted water samples.