Fabrication a new modified electrochemical sensor based on Au–Pd bimetallic nanoparticle decorated graphene for citalopram determination

•A novel sensor based on Au-PdNPs deposited graphene modified gold electrode was fabricated.•The morphology and the electrochemical properties of the sensor were characterized by several methods.•The fabricated sensor was employed for the detection of antidepressant drug CTL with satisfactory results.

This paper proposes a simple approach for sensing of citalopram (CTL) using gold–palladium bimetallic nanoparticles (Au–PdNPs) decorated graphene modified gold electrode. Au–PdNPs were deposited at the surface of a graphene modified gold electrode with simple electrodeposition method. The morphology and the electrochemical properties of the modified electrode were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The novel sensor exhibited an excellent catalytic activity towards the oxidation of CTL. The oxidation peak current of CTL, was linear in the range of 0.5–50 μM with a detection limit 0.049 μM with respect to concentration of citalopram. The proposed sensor was successfully applied for determination of CTL tablet and human plasma samples with satisfactory results.

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