DESENVOLVIMENTO DE ELETRODOS DE CARBONO CERÂMICO À BASE DE NANOTUBOS DE CARBONO

Abstract

In this work, ceramic carbon electrodes (CCE) were synthetized using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) to improve the electrochemical properties of this electrode material. For the construction of MWCNT-based CCE (CCE/MWCNT), the MWCNT functionalization was initially performed, which were refluxed in presence of nitric acid and perchloric acid. The spectroscopic characterization of MWCNT was performed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), RAMAN spectroscopy and FTIR spectroscopy. The effectiveness of the MWCNT functionalization was confirmed with XRD pattern by the presence of the peak at 2θ = 26.02°, which corresponds to the (002) reflection. Raman spectrum showed the D, G and G‘ bands, characteristic of carbon materials, which can also be confirmed in the FTIR spectra by the presence of characteristic carboxylic and hydroxyl functional groups. The morphological characterization by FESEM demonstrated that the oxidative treatment did not affect the tubular structure of the samples. The CCE made, both with MWCNT and graphite, were characterized by FESEM, which demonstrated the uniform incorporation of the nanotubes and graphite flakes into the silica matrix. The Raman spectroscopy presented the D, G and G‘ bands and the bands between 400 and 1200 cm-1 attributed to the Si-O bond, while the FTIR spectrum showed stretching/ deformations related to the vibrational modes of SiO2 and Si-CH3 groups. The electrochemical characterization of CCE/MWCNT performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in presence of K4Fe(CN)6/K3Fe(CN)6, demonstrated that the incorporation of MWCNT in the CCE improved the electrochemical properties of the electrode. A higher current response (about 50% of increment) and a lower ΔEp value were achieved with the CCE/MWCNT compared to CCE/graphite. This behavior was in good agreement with the EIS results, in which the CCE/MWCNT showed a lower charge transfer resistance (Rct) in relation to graphite based electrode (CCE/MWCNT = 27.37Ω; CCE/graphite = 33.39Ω). In order to verify the potentiality of the CCE/MWCNT as an electrochemical sensor, the sodium sulfacetamide (SFC) and sulfadiazine (SFD) pharmaceuticals were determined. Both analytes showed an irreversible oxidation wave at +1.0 V in phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). It was verified that the pH of the support electrolyte had a direct influence in the anodic peak potential of the analytes, which can be attributed to the involvement of protons in the oxidation process. The optimum pH value was 6.0 for both pharmaceuticals, so it was employed for further analysis. The CCE/MWCNT exhibited a linear relationship between the peak current and sulfonamide concentration in the range of 9.9 to 177.0 μmol L-1, with detection (LOD) and quantification limit (LOQ) of 1.06 and 3.54 μmol L-1 for SFC and 4.75 and 15.83 μmol L-1 for SFD, respectively. Besides the good sensitivity for detecting the antibiotics, the developed electrode showed good repeatability and reproducibility levels (RSDrepeat= 0.99% and RSDreprod= 0.95% for SFC; RSDrepeat = 2.47% and RSDreprod = 0.07% for SFD), which confirmed the promising analytical performance of CCE/MWCNT for the electroanalysis of SFC and SFD in real samples.