An R-type hexagonal ferrite nanoparticles-based electrochemical sensor for Levofloxacin detection in pharmaceutical and clinical specimens

Abstract

The usage of Levofloxacin (LEV) has increased in recent years for the treatment of bacterial infections in both human and veterinary fields. In this context, there has been a significant demand for the development of a highly sensitive and cost-effective approach to LEV quantification. In this study, R-type hexagonal ferrite nanoparticles (SrSn2Fe4O11-NPs) were prepared by an auto-ignition methodology and various analytical techniques were used for the materiaĺs characterization, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET) analysis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis. The characterization confirmed that the prepared material has a crystalline structure single-phase with a crystalline size of 35.02 nm. The R-type hexagonal ferrite nanoparticles were immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by a simple drop-casting approach to developing an efficient electrochemical sensor (SrSn2Fe4O11-NPs/GCE) for sensitive and selective LEV detection through an extended concentration range (0.06 × 10−6 to 170 × 10−6 M) and a low detection limit of (41.5nM). The developed sensor was applied successfully to quantitatively determine LEV in clinical samples and pharmaceutical preparations with excellent recoveries from 95.2 to 102.5 %.