Synthesis of Fe–Cu/TiO2 nanostructure and its use in construction of a sensitive and selective sensor for metformin determination

•A carbon paste modified electrode for determination of MET was developed.•The synthesized Fe-Cu/TiO2 nanocomposite was used as a modifier.•The sensor was successfully applied for MET determination in real samples.•Square wave adsorptive stripping voltammetric method was used for MET determination.

A carbon paste electrode modified with Fe-Cu/TiO2 was prepared and used for low level determination of metformin (MET) using square wave adsorptive stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV). The Fe-Cu/TiO2 nanoparticle was synthesized by a modified sol–gel method. The surface structure and composition of nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRD) and N2 physisorption. Also, electrochemical properties of the prepared nanocomposite modified electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. Under optimized conditions, the modified electrode exhibited a linear response over the concentration range of 15 nM to 75 μM MET, with a detection limit of 3 nM. The proposed sensor exhibited a high sensitivity, good selectivity and was successfully applied for MET determination in real samples such as human urine and pharmaceutical formulations.

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