Unveiling Bi-decorated graphitic carbon nitride nanostructures for electrochemical sensors

Abstract

Developing sensitive and stable probes to monitor accurate quantification of anti-cancer drugs like nilutamide in human biofluids is critical for effective cancer monitoring and treatment. The current study aimed on synthesis bismuth-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposite as an electrochemical probe for measuring nilutamide material. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) was prepared via a simple thermally induced copolymerization. Then, the g-C₃N₄ layers were decorated with bismuth (Bi) to boost the quality of forming and interface between g-C₃N₄ and Bi, therefore improving the electrochemical activity of the Bi-decorated g-C₃N₄ system. The synthesized Bi-decorated g-C₃N₄ material was studied by FESEM, XRD, TEM, EDX, FTIR, XPS, Raman, BET, UV–Vis and PL to confirm successful Bi incorporation of g-C₃N₄ material. The investigations revealed that an excellent detection limit of 0.38 ppb (0.0012 nM) can be achieved using Bi-doped g-C₃N₄ as an electrochemical sensor. A linear dynamic range of 5–160 ppb was observed for the sensing of nilutamide. Notably, the developed sensor showed good reproducibility with a relative standard deviation value of 3.78 %. In the future research, the potential of developed sensor developed to sensitively and selectively other molecules should be investigated in environmental samples. In addition, the Bi-decorated g-C₃N₄/GCE showed good sensitivity in a pH range to probe the nilutamide material.