A novel electrochemical sensor based on magneto Au nanoparticles/carbon paste electrode for voltammetric determination of acetaminophen in real samples

An electrochemical magneto Au nanoparticles/carbon paste electrodes (MAuNP/CPE) which is used for the determination of acetaminophen (AC) in real samples was developed. Initially, Au nanoparticles were immobilized at the surface of Fe3O4 (AuNPs@Fe3O4), which was used as a sorbent for capturing AC molecules. After adding AuNPs@Fe3O4 to the AC solution and stirring for 20 min, the AuNPs@Fe3O4 was gathered on the magneto electrode based on its magnetic field. The AC molecules which became adsorbed at AuNPs@Fe3O4 were analyzed by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). For characterization and investigation of the performance of AuNPs@Fe3O4 and MAuNPs/CPE, various methods, including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and DPV were used. Under the optimized conditions, the anodic peak current was linear to the concentration of AC in the range of 0.1 to 70.0 mu mol L-1 with the detection limit of 4.5 x 10(-2) mu mol L-1. This method was also successfully used to detect the concentration of AC in pharmaceutical formulations and human serum samples. In addition, the proposed magneto sensor exhibited good reproducibility, long-term stability and fast current response. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.