Development and Application of 3D-Printed Electrochemical Sensors for Ciprofloxacin Detection

Abstract

The production of electrochemical devices and systems using additive manufacturing technology, particularly three-dimensional (3D) printing, has proven to be highly promising. This work reports the development of 3D-printed electrochemical sensors for the determination of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP). To achieve this, a lab-made conductive filament composed of carbon black (CB) and polylactic acid (PLA) was produced and utilized in the fabrication of the sensors. Additionally, an electrochemical cell was constructed using a nonconductive filament, resulting in a miniaturized and entirely additively manufactured platform. The characterization of the proposed CB–PLA sensor was carried out using scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical techniques. The proposed sensor has shown a linear range of 1.0–12.5 µmol L−1, with a sensitivity of 3.77 µA µmol−1 L, and limits of detection and quantification of 0.3 and 0.9 µmol L−1 for CIP, respectively. Regarding the analysis of the samples (tap water and synthetic urine), it was observed recovery values close to 100% for all samples. Thus, the 3D-printed electrochemical device presents itself as a high-potential alternative for CIP drug control, with the possibility of being used in the field and point of care.