Fe doped NiO incorporated porous carbon hybrid electrocatalyst: A state of the art analysis for the selective sensing of acetaminophen in biological and pharmaceutical samples

Abstract New multidirectional porous carbon nanoparticles supported Fe doped NiO nanocomposite–based electrochemical sensor for acetaminophen (denoted as ACP) has been developed. The porous carbon encapsulated Fe doped NiO nanocomposite was synthesized by a co-precipitation method and wet chemical route. Structural and chemical characterizations suggested the successful preparation of Fe doped NiO with clearly seen fcc structure of NiO nanoparticle without any change by Fe doping at Ni site. The electron transfer properties of the as-prepared materials were studied using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In addition to that, the electrocatalytic activity of the catalyst materials toward ACP was performed by the cyclic voltammetric and amperometric (i-t) techniques. The 3D conductive and large surface area of porous carbon showed synergistic effects with high catalytic properties of the porous carbon decorated Fe doped NiO nanocomposite helped in achieving trace level LOD of ACP analytes 0.46 nM and sensitivity 47.365 µA µM-1 cm-2 with outstanding selectivity and reproducibility. Quantitative detection of ACP by the amperometry method revealed that the oxidation response current of ACP displayed an acceptable linear response of 0.15 µM to 1652 µM at +0.45 V. The porous carbon encapsulated Fe doped NiO nanocomposite electrode also exhibited an excellent recovery to ACP detection in urine and pharmaceutical samples.