2-D graphitic carbon nitride fabricated electrode as a robust inexpensive electrochemical scaffold for the real-time detection of serum uric acid in gout patients

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) modified screen printed carbon (SPC) electrodes were found to be an excellent probe for the real-time quantification of serum uric acid (UA) in gouty patients upon performing exercises of different regime. Nitrogen-rich precursor like melamine was used for the preparation of g-C3N4 via thermal polycondensation. The prepared materials were well characterized using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The as-prepared g-C3N4 was electrochemically deposited on SPC electrode for the effective determination of serum UA at physiological pH. Since the current response generated from serum UA and commercial UA was different, the calibration of the modified electrode was carried out by using serum UA. The UA oxidation current was increased linearly from 5 to 40 µM with a correlation coefficient of 0.9948 at g-C3N4/SPC electrode. Several volunteers were subjected to the quantification of serum UA and among them gouty patients were selected and subjected to various exercises like Mild, RAST and Yoga. Periodically the serum UA was collected and analysed via the modified electrode as well as with the standard method. It was found that the serum UA content increases upon performing exercises and it was concluded that exercises cannot reduces the serum UA. The results obtained from the present electrochemical sensor were highly consistent with the results of clinical methods upon validation, which authenticates the practicability of the fabricated sensor in real-time applications.