Due to the serious adverse futures of some anticancer
drugs, the
determination of trace amounts of these drugs by simple analytical
techniques is of great interest. In this regard, knowing about the
mechanism of the analyte with the sensing material plays an important
role. Nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs) modified by a carbon paste
electrode (NiO-CPE) showed an irreversible cyclic voltammetric (CV)
behavior in the NaOH (pH 13) supporting electrolyte based on the peak
separation of 311 mV. Its peak current was decreased by adding tamoxifen
(TAM), confirming that TAM molecules can consume NiO before participating
in the electrode reaction. For this goal, TAM can be oxidized or reduced,
and the corresponding mechanisms are schematically illustrated in
the text. This study focused on the kinetic aspects of the process.
Based on the CV results, a surface coverage (Γ) value of 2.72
× 10
–5
mol NiO per cm
2
was obtained
with charge transfer coefficients α
a
and α
c
of 0.317 and 0.563, respectively. α
a
and
α
c
values were changed to 0.08 and 0.72 in the presence
of TAM. Further, the rate constant (
k
s
) value was 0.021 ± 0.01 s
–1
in the presence
of TAM. In linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), an α value of about
0.636 ± 0.023 and an exchange rate constant (
k
o
) value of about 0.097 ± 0.031 s
–1
were obtained in the absence of TAM, which changed to 0.62 ±
0.081 and 0.089 ± 0.021 s
–1
in the presence
of TAM, respectively. Despite more published papers, when the TAM
analyte was added to the NaOH supporting electrolyte, both anodic
and cathodic peak currents of the modified NiO-CPE decreased. We suggested
some reasons for this decreased peak current, and four mechanisms
were illustrated for the electrode response in the presence of TAM.