Electrochemiluminescence sensor based on electrospun three-dimensional carbon nanofibers for the detection of difenidol hydrochloride

Abstract

The detection of difenidol hydrochloride, which is a drug that is widely used for treating the nausea and vomiting symptoms caused by certain diseases, has been increasingly involved in cases of suicide via overdosing and of drug poisoning in children. A novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor for the simple and effective detection of difenidol hydrochloride was fabricated by modifying a glassy carbon electrode with three-dimensional carbon nanofibers (3D-CNFs). The 3D-CNFs were synthesized by electrospinning a mixture of montmorillonite (MMT) and polyacrylonitrile, carbonizing the electrospun product, and etching it with hydrofluoric acid. The form and structure of the 3D-CNFs was analyzed via scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman microspectroscopy. According to the experimental results obtained using the modified electrodes, a good linear relationship was found between peak intensity and difenidol concentration (y = 868.14x − 61.04, R2 = 0.999), with a relatively low detection limit (8.64 × 10−10 mol·L−1 (S/N = 3)). In addition, our approach exhibited good recovery values ranging from 98.99% to 102.28%. The proposed novel ECL sensor has wide application prospects for the detection of difenidol hydrochloride.