A nanocomposite of graphene oxide encapsulated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (GO@MWNTs) was produced by a simple method. The composite displayed good dispersibility. An antiaromatic dimesity-substituted nickel (II) norcorrole complex (NiNC) was noncovalently assembled on the GO@MWNTs to form a novel triad hybrid (GO@MWNTs-NiNC). The hybrid was characterized by different analytical techniques containing AFM, TEM, UV-vis spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, and TGA. Based on the excellent electrocatalytic properties of the triad hybrid towards dopamine (DA), a new electrochemical sensing platform for the selective and sensitive determination of DA was proposed. Under optimized conditions, the linear response range for determining DA were obtained over the range of 0.03-80 mu M with the estimated detection limit of 0.012 mu M (S/N = 3). The fabricated sensor also exhibits such features as good stability, selectivity, and reproducibility. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.