Exploring the sensitivity of nanodiamond to sarafloxacin: A DFT approach

Increase in antibiotics applications in animal industry leads to an environmental risk due to remaining of these compounds and their derivatives in animal production, wastewaters and soils. This study investigates the sensitivity of nanodiamond to sarafloxacin to detect a widely used antibiotic in poultry industry. The interaction between hydrogen terminated nanodiamond and sarafloxacin was studied for four different configurations of the conjugated system by density functional theory and then, adsorption energy and HOMO-LUMO gap energy of the conjugated systems were calculated. The results revealed that the sarafloxacin can be physically adsorbed on hydrogen terminated nanodiamond. The physical adsorption through the weak to medium non-covalent strength interactions has received the most attention in sensing applications; therefore, nanodiamond can be a possible candidate for nanobiosensor investigations.