High-performance electrochemical detection of furazolidone: Investigating the synergistic effects of SnO2/MoO3 and carbon black composite

Abstract

Antibiotics are crucial in modern medicine for combating bacterial illnesses and saving lives. Still, their overuse has led to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, creating a serious public health risk. This study offers a unique approach for synthesizing a SnO₂/MoO₃ composite via precipitation and integrating it with commercial carbon black (CB) to make a SnO₂/MoO₃/CB composite. This substantially increases electrochemical detection, especially for antibiotics like furazolidone (FZD). The study uses multiple spectroscopic techniques to thoroughly characterize the SnO₂/MoO₃/CB composite, demonstrating its potential as an electrochemical sensor. We used a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) to detect FZD. We found that the composite performed exceptionally well, with a detection limit of 0.01 µM owing to the enhanced surface area of the proposed sensor related to other modified electrodes. The sensor demonstrated good sensitivity (4.125 µA µM⁻¹ cm⁻²) and selectivity and excellent real-time detection capability FZD in water samples, urine, and pharmaceutical samples. In these real-world samples, the SnO₂/MoO₃/CB@SPCE sensor also showed outstanding selectivity and recovery rates for FZD. This paper demonstrates a substantial advancement in the development of SnO₂/MoO₃/CB-SPCE sensors for antibiotic detection, with important implications for healthcare and environmental monitoring.