Conniving for the first time of BiVO4 – rGO/CE-BN and its potential as enhanced electrochemical sensing of non-steroidal anti-androgen drug

Abstract

This work focuses on the electrochemical sensing of Flutamide (FLA) drug using a ternary composite material namely reduced graphene oxide (rGO) wrapped with bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) loaded on chemically exfoliated boron nitride (CE-BN). To synthesize this material, BiVO4 was prepared using the solvothermal method; secondly, graphene oxide was prepared using the modified Hummer’s method, and CE-BN was prepared using the chemical exfoliation method. After the preparation of the individual materials, reduced graphene oxide was bound over bismuth vanadate using the wrapping technique and then loaded onto the CE-BN surface using the wet impregnation technique. After the preparation of each compound, characterization studies such as XRD, FT-IR, and FE-SEM analysis were carried out in order to confirm the structural details, formation of the compound, and other functional properties and to check the purity of the material. Finally, the confirmed compounds were used for electrochemical sensing studies in a three-electrode setup; the electrochemical performance of the BiVO4-rGO/CE-BN composite was investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and digital pulse voltammetry (DPV). With lower cathodic peak potential, greater cathodic current, a better linear range (0.04–102.2 µM), a lower limit of detection (0.011 µM), and better sensitivity (3.8028 µA µM−1 cm−2) on the modified BiVO4-rGO/CE-BN, it demonstrates superior electrochemical activity towards the reduction of FLA. Furthermore, interference studies were conducted in presence of other drugs to test the selectivity of the proposed sensor, which revealed that BiVO4-rGO/CE-BN/GCE possesses a greater selectivity. In addition, the practical feasibility of the prepared sensor was tested with lake water samples, which showed a satisfactory recovery in real samples. Based on the findings, the suggested sensor (BiVO4-rGO/CE-BN/GCE) appears to be a better choice for FLA detection.