Inkjet-Printed Carbon Nanotube Electrodes Modified with Dimercaptosuccinic Acid-Capped Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticles on Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheets for Single-Drop Determination of Trifluoperazine

Abstract

Here, we report the design of a disposable single-drop voltammetric sensor for the quantitative determination of antipsychotic drug trifluoperazine (TFP). The sensor was built using inkjet-printed carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes, which were modified with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA)-coated magnetite nanoparticles uniformly dispersed over reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (DMSA/Fe3O4/RGO). The used modifying materials were characterized by electron microscopy techniques (transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM)), X-ray powder diffraction, ζ-potential measurements, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)). The developed sensor, best operated at pH 7 in the Britton–Robinson buffer solution (BRBS), shows linear electrocatalytic activity with TFP in the concentration range of 1–50 μM, a low detection limit of 0.54 μM, and excellent selectivity, repeatability, and reproducibility with an relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.4%. A voltammetric approach using square wave voltammetry (SWV) is a sensitive technique under optimized conditions for the analytical determination of submicromolar amounts of TFP. Bare CNT and RGO- and DMSA/Fe3O4-modified CNT electrodes showed lower electrocatalytic activity than the DMSA/Fe3O4/RGO/CNT electrode. The development of this kind of TFP sensor based on nanoparticle-decorated graphene nanosheets can offer a tool for point-of-care applications as sensors in biomedicine.