Ni/MoN nanoparticles embedded with mesoporous carbon as a high-efficiency electrocatalyst for detection of nitroimidazole antibiotics

Abstract

Constructing a high-efficiency electrochemical sensor for determination of nitroimidazole antibiotics (NIABs) is of great importance for pharmaceutical analysis and environmental monitoring. Herein, Ni/MoN nanoparticles embedded with mesoporous carbon (MC) (Ni/MoN/MC) was prepared via one-step pyrolysis of Ni2(BDC)2(DABCO) (Ni-MOF) based composite (BDC = terephthalic acid and DABCO = 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane). The Ni/MoN/MC composite possessed high porosity and abundant active metal sites, which could effectively promote the adsorption and the electrochemical reduction of NIABs with enhanced electrochemical signals. Markedly, Ni/MoN/MC modified glassy carbon electrode (Ni/MoN/MC/GCE) featured high-efficiency electrochemical detection performances for metronidazole (MNZ), tinidazole (TNZ) and ornidazole (ODZ). Particularly, the limits of detection (LODs) for MNZ, TNZ and ODZ were very low, in which the LOD value for TNZ was up to 8 nM. To our knowledge, this LOD value is lower than that of the known best sensor. More importantly, the Ni/MoN/MC/GCE sensor could detect MNZ, TNZ and ODZ in drugs and tap water with well-pleasing recoveries, indicating that it could be a promising electrocatalyst for NIABs monitoring in real samples. The synergistic effect between Ni/MoN and MC effectively promoted the electrochemical determination performances of Ni/MoN/MC/GCE towards NIABs.