Zinc molybdate/functionalized carbon nanofiber composites modified electrodes for high-performance amperometric detection of hazardous drug Sulfadiazine

Pharmaceuticals are generally designed to be nondegradable or slowly degradable to prevent chemical degradation as it is employed as therapeutics for human or animal. This results in a widespread risk when they enter, accumulate or persist in the environment. Pharmaceutical pollution is emerging as wide-reaching concern due to its ostensible consequences, by dissemination in the environment. This demands for inventing novel analytical routes to monitor and mitigate pharmaceutical pollutants. Therefore, this paper presents synthesis of Zinc molybdate nano particles embedded on functionalized carbon nanofibers to fabricate glassy carbon electrode towards sensitive detection of Sulfadiazine (SDZ). The synergistic effect produced in the composite had enabled it with improved charge transfer kinetics and benefited with more active surface area. The proposed ZnMoO₄/f-CNF sensor shows significant static characteristics such as wide linear response ranges (0.125 to1575.2 μM), low detection limit (0.0006 μM) and selectivity, and increased stability. Also, its practicability was analyzed by SDZ detection in real samples.