Publication

Abstract : The long term exposure to antibiotics such as rifampicin, which belongs to rifamycin family, can result in health ailments. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an effective sensor to monitor the RF level. A disposable electrochemical sensing platform was developed using zirconium oxide/copper doped carbon dots nanocomposite (ZrO2/Cu-CD) modified screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE). The ZrO2 and Cu-CD were prepared using hydrothermal method. The surface modification on SPCE was done using simple drop-casting method. The combination of ZrO2 and Cu-CD facilitated the electron transfer process and enhanced conductivity, respectively. The property of the nanomaterials was studied using X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Furthermore, the prepared nanomaterials were utilized for the fabrication of a highly efficient electrochemical sensor for the detection of rifampicin using electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The studies demonstrated excellent performance of the developed sensor with a limit of detection of 0.04 µM with a linearity of 0.2–15 µM. An appreciable recovery rate of 77–86 % in real-sample analysis achieved using human serum has confirmed its practical feasibility in the real-time detection of clinical samples.