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Reduced graphene oxide/ZnO nanocomposite modified electrode for the detection of tetracycline

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Abstract

In this work, rGO-ZnO (reduced graphene oxide–zinc oxide) nanocomposite was prepared and used for modification of GC (glassy carbon) surface in order to obtain an electrochemical sensor for tetracycline determination in water and urine samples by voltammetric technique. The characterization of synthesized nanocomposite was accomplished by utilizing SEM, EDS, AFM and FTIR analyses. The electrochemical behaviour of tetracycline on the modified GCE was studied by cyclic voltammetry and results revealed that modification enhanced the electro-oxidation of tetracycline with increased current intensity. Tetracycline provided a well-defined oxidation peak at around + 1.05 V vs. Ag/AgCl (3.5 mol/L KCl) in Britton–Robinson buffer (BRB) at pH 8.0. Then, square-wave voltammetry (SWV) was applied for analytical purposes. The influence of the supporting electrolyte (type, concentration and pH) and SWV parameters on the peak current was investigated in order to optimize the experimental and instrumental conditions for quantitative analysis. Under the optimal conditions, the prepared sensor exhibits a wide linear range (4–400 µmol/L) with a low limit of detection (0.38 µmol/L) and good reproducibility of analysis (RSD < 3.40%). In addition, the sensor showed high selectivity towards tetracycline analysis in comparison to interferences often present in real samples. The practical analytical usefulness of the presented sensing platform was successfully demonstrated in the determination of tetracycline in water and human urine with good recoveries.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by European Regional Development Fund "Multidisciplinary research to increase application potential of nanomaterials in agricultural practice" (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_025/0007314) and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) 2020 project (LQ1601). We acknowledged the Nanobiotechnology core facility supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (LM2018127). Authors from the Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological development, Republic of Serbia (Project No. 451–03-68/2022–14/200134). The authors also acknowledge the assistance provided by the Research Infrastructure NanoEnviCz, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under Project No. LM2018124.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Ana Đurović, Zorica Stojanović & Snežana Kravić

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Zuzana Bytešníková, Pavel Švec & Lukáš Richtera

  3. CEITEC MU, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5/A35, 62 500, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jan Přibyl

  4. Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 656/123, 612 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lukáš Richtera

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  1. Ana Đurović
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Đurović, A., Stojanović, Z., Bytešníková, Z. et al. Reduced graphene oxide/ZnO nanocomposite modified electrode for the detection of tetracycline. J Mater Sci 57, 5533–5551 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-06926-1

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