Assessing manganese nanostructures based carbon nanotubes composite for the highly sensitive determination of vitamin C in pharmaceutical formulation

•Composite structures based on CNTs and Mn NPs for the analysis of vitamin C.•The morphology consists of agglomerates of Mn NPs (50-500 nm) anchored along CNTs.•The synergistic effects produce sensing platform with excellent LOD of 0.1 µM.

This work is the first report describing the development of a novel three dimensional manganese nanostructures based carbon nanotubes (CNTs-Mn NPs) composite, for the determination of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in pharmaceutical formulation. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as a conductive skeleton to anchor highly electrolytic manganese nanoparticles (Mn NPs), which were prepared by a hydrothermal method. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy revealed the presence of Mn Nps of 20-25 nm, anchored along the whole length of CNTs, in the form of patches having a diameter of 50-500 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the surface modification of CNTs by amine groups, whereas dynamic light scattering established the presence of positive charge on the prepared nanocomposite. The binding events were studied by monitoring cyclic voltammetry signals and the developed nanosensor exhibited highly sensitive response, demonstrating improved electrochemical activity towards ascorbic acid. Linear dependence of the peak current on the square root of scan rates (R2=0.9785), demonstrated that the oxidation of ascorbic acid by the designed nanostructures is a diffusion control mechanism. Furthermore, linear range was found to be 0.06-4.0×10−3 M, and nanosensor displayed an excellent detection limit of 0.1 µM (S/N=3). This developed nanosensor was successfully applied for the determination of vitamin C in pharmaceutical formulation. Besides, the results of the present study indicate that such a sensing platform may offer a different pathway to utilize manganese nanoparticles based CNTs composite for the determination of other bio-molecules as well.

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