Synthesis and characterization of iron-cobalt oxide/polypyrrole nanocomposite: An electrochemical sensing platform of anti-prostate cancer drug flutamide in human urine and serum samples

Abstract

The invention of easy, selective, and responsive anti-cancer drug analysis platforms of high significance in biomedical research with accuracy. Fortunately, creating an innovative electrode material with a low detection limit, high sensitivity, and stability remains a challenging task. Herein, we describe a simple approach to synthesize iron-cobalt oxide anchored with polypyrrole (FCO/PPy) nanocomposite through a sonochemical approach. XRD, FTIR, and XPS analysis have confirmed the construction of FCO/PPy nanocomposite. FESEM and TEM have been used to demonstrate the nanocomposite morphological and structural properties. The electrochemical characterization has been monitored by EIS, CV, and DPV methods. The results of the nanocomposite revealed higher electrochemical performance for flutamide (FLT) reduction than the single electrodes. Under optimized experimental conditions, the sensor exhibits broad linearity from 0.4 µM to 376 µM, with a low detection limit of 0.086 µM and excellent sensitivity of 1.45 µA µM–1 cm–2. Further, FCO/PPy electrode shows outstanding repeatability, stability, reproducibility, and good selectivity of FLT in the presence of nitrofurantoin (NFT), and 4-nitroaniline (4-NA). The practical applicability of the developed sensor is applied for FLT detection in human serum and urine samples with satisfactory recovery values.