Synthesizing of 3D-Flowerlike Cerium Vanadate Anchored on g-C₃N₄ for Electrocatalysis of Nitrofurantoin in Biological Samples

Abstract

Designing an electrochemical sensor which is cost-effective along with high stability and activity is challenging. It requires a proper architecture of supporting electrode materials. Herein, we have successfully synthesized and explored the electrochemical activity of 3D – hierarchical flower like cerium vanadate (CeVO4) anchored on g-C3N4 towards the detection of Nitrofurantoin. A series of spectroscopic and morphological techniques like XRD, FT-IR, and FESEM clearly confirms the formation of CeVO4 and CeVO4@g-C3N4 nanocomposite. The electrocatalytic activity of the CeVO4@g-C3N4 modified screen printed carbon paste electrode (SPCE); for detecting nitrofurantoin was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). A significant improvement in the rate of charge transfer and conductivity was observed, owing to the 3D flower like structure of the CeVO4 nanoparticles. This resulted in a significant improvement in the electrochemical performance with a wide dynamic linear range and a very low detection limit of 0.0010 µM, showed a high sensitivity in the presence of potential interfering compounds. The proposed CeVO4@g-C3N4 modified sensor showed interesting results when evaluated for its real-time applications for detecting nitrofurantoin in human blood serum samples, and also commercially available pharmaceutical tablets. It showed an excellent recovery range for real sample analysis and can be applied to make commercial electrochemical device with potential sensing abilities. Figure 1