Modification of glassy carbon electrode with a bilayer of multiwalled carbon nanotube/tiron-doped polypyrrole: Application to sensitive voltammetric determination of acyclovir

• A simple method was employed to construct a thin film modified electrode.
• Tiron-doped polypyrrole was electropolymerized on MWCNT precast glassy carbon electrode.
• Electrode surface characterization was performed by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques.
• The modified electrode showed nano-molar detection limit for acyclovir.
• The modified electrode was applied for the detection of ACV in pharmaceutical and clinical preparations.

A novel voltammetric sensor based on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with a thin film of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) coated with an electropolymerized layer of tiron-doped polypyrrole was developed and the resulting electrode was applied for the determination of acyclovir (ACV). The surface morphology and property of the modified electrode were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The electrochemical performance of the modified electrode was investigated by means of linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The effect of several experimental variables, such as pH of the supporting electrolyte, drop size of the cast MWCNTssuspension, number of electropolymerization cycles and accumulation time was optimized by monitoring the LSV response of the modified electrode toward ACV. The best response was observed at pH 7.0 after accumulation at open circuit for 160 s. Under the optimized conditions, a significant electrochemical improvement was observed toward the electrooxidation of ACV on the modified electrode surface relative to the bare GCE, resulting in a wide linear dynamic range (0.03–10.0 μM) and a low detection limit (10.0 nM) for ACV. Besides high sensitivity, the sensor represented high stability and good reproducibility for ACV analysis, and provided satisfactory results for the determination of this compound in pharmaceutical and clinical preparations.

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