Simple, sensitive, and cost-effective voltammetric determination of salbutamol at a pencil graphite electrode modified with Nafion and functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes

This study describes a simple, highly sensitive, and cost-effective electrochemical determination of salbutamol (SBT) at a disposable pencil graphite electrode modified with Nafion/functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite material (Nf/f-MWCNTs/PGE). The electrochemical response of SBT at this modified electrode was investigated by both differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry techniques. The voltammetric measurements confirmed that the combination of f-MWCNTs with Nafion shows remarkable electrocatalytic activity on the oxidation of SBT due to a synergistic effect of Nafion via electrostatic interaction and f-MWCNTs via excellent conductivity and large specific surface area. Differential pulse voltammetry results show that the composite electrode gives two linear ranges of 0.10-17.5 mu M and 17.5-100 mu M with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.027 mu M SBT. Moreover, the studies of some potential interferants show that there is no significant interference in the determination of SBT. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to determine SBT in tube- and syrup-type pharmaceutical formulations, animal feed, and beef meat samples, and acceptable results were obtained with high accuracy and precision. Moreover, the proposed sensor displays good intra-day and inter-day precisions for the voltammetric determination of SBT.