Oxygen-terminated vanadium carbide with graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets modified electrode: A robust electrochemical platform for the sensitive detection of antibiotic drug clioquinol

Abstract

Engineering the electrocatalyst's nanostructure is key-factor in constructing a high-performance electrochemical sensor. The MXene vanadium carbide (V8C7Tx; VC) nanosheets encapsulating graphitic carbon nanosheets nanocomposite (VC/g-CN NSs NC) as an effective electrocatalyst for detecting clioquinol (CQL) is reported here. The interconnected VC and g-CN nanosheets form a very effective conductive network. The high concentration of O-terminated functional groups in the oxidized VC and the abundant surface area of g-CN contribute to the enhanced electrocatalytic effectiveness of the nanocomposite. The synergistic interaction between the VC NSs and g-CN NSs creates a nanocomposite ideal for CQL detection because it offers many active sites with a fast electron transfer rate. A lower oxidation potential and higher peak current responsiveness distinguish the proposed drug sensor from previously described CQL sensors. Under optimal conditions, the constructed sensors showed strong analytical performance, as shown by a low detection limit of 2.2 nM, high sensitivity of 15.6 µA µM−1 cm−2, a broad linear range of 0.3–220 µM, and significant recovery outcomes in the analysis of real samples. Thus, the VC/g-CN NSs NC material has promise for use in high-performance electrochemical applications.