A graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4/Fe3O4) nanocomposite: an efficient electrode material for the electrochemical determination of tramadol in human biological fluids

Abstract

In the present study, a graphitic carbon nitride/Fe₃O₄ (g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄) nanocomposite/carbon paste electrode was used as a highly sensitive sensor for the voltammetric determination of tramadol (Tr) in an aqueous solution. The g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite was synthesized by simple calcination of g-C₃N₄ and ferrite (Fe₃O₄) magnetic nanoparticles, which was then utilized to fabricate a modified carbon paste electrode (g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄-CPE). The nanocomposite was thoroughly characterized by various techniques including field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effects of some parameters, such as the solution pH, scan rate, accumulation time and potential, interferents and concentration of Tr, were studied to optimize the experimental conditions; under the optimized conditions, the proposed electrode showed significant detection efficiency for Tr determined using differential pulse voltammetry over the concentration ranges of 0.2–14.0 μM and 14.0–120.0 μM and a detection limit of 0.1 μM. The proposed sensor was successfully applied for the determination of Tr in various real samples without any complex sample pretreatment.