Nano molar detection of acyclovir, an antiviral drug at nanoclay modified carbon paste electrode

•Nanoclay particles were utilized as modifier to fabricate an innovative sensor.•The nanoclay modified carbon paste sensor exhibits enhanced catalytic activity towards acyclovir detection.•Electrochemical behavior of acyclovir was illustrated by using cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry techniques.•The sensor displayed high sensitivity with detection limit 0.2 nM.•This technique was applicable in determination of the analyte in pharmaceutical formulation and spiked human urine samples.

A nano level voltammetric sensing method has been developed for determination of acyclovir (ACV) at nano clay modified carbon paste sensor by employing cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV) techniques in pH 5.0. The electro-oxidation current of ACV was enhanced two times greater by the modification of the sensor. The modifier nano clay was characterized by utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM). The influence of parameters like scan rate, pH, accumulation time, amount of the modifier and concentration on the peak current of the drug were studied. The effect of ACV concentration variation was studied using SWV technique and got lowest detection limit compared to the earlier reported techniques. The fabricated sensor was employed for the determination of acyclovir in pharmaceutical and biological samples.

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