Full Paper
DOI: 10.1002/elan.201900580
Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor Based on Pt
doped NiO Nanoparticles/MWCNTs Nanocomposite
Modified Electrode for Simultaneous Sensing of Piroxicam
and Amlodipine
Aliyeh Dehdashti[a] and Ali Babaei*[a, b]
Abstract: In this paper, a high-sensitivity electrochemical
sensor based on platinum (Pt) doped nickel oxide (NiO)
nanoparticles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes
(MWCNTs) modified glassy carbon electrode (Pt NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE) has been developed to determine pirox-
icam (PIR) and amlodipine (AML) simultaneously. The
electrochemical behavior of PIR and AML at the
proposed sensor has been investigated by cyclic voltam-
metry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and
chronoamperometry (CA) methods. Pt doped NiO nano-
particles were synthesized by the sol-gel procedure and
Keywords: Piroxicam · Amlodipine · Pt doped NiO nanoparticles · Modified glassy carbon electrode
1 Introduction
Modification of electrodes with various modifiers is very
important for improving quality of sensors for drugs
analysis with low sensitivity [1–3]. In recent years, differ-
ent types of nanomaterials such as metal oxide nano-
structures have been applied as modifiers in sensors [4–6].
Nanostructured NiO is one of the most remarkable p-type
semiconducting metal oxides with a constant wide band
gap for sensor applications due to excellent catalytic
activity, high surface to volume ratio, low toxicity,
environmental friendliness and low cost [7, 8]. In partic-
ular, nanostructured NiO as an electrochemical modifier
provides larger active areas and therewith lead to higher
detection sensitivity of numerous important compounds
such as; glucose [9], uric acid [10], and nitrite [11]. Doping
modification is another effective method used to enhance
sensing properties of the metal oxide semiconductor
sensors. Doping with noble metals such as Ag, Au, Pd,
and Pt increases the surface area and improves the
electronic properties of the NiO nanostructures, which
can lead to higher sensor response than that of pure NiO
[12–15]. Among the noble metals, doping with platinum is
believed to boost the electro-catalytic activity of the NiO
nanostructures [16].
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), including MWCNTs and
single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs), have shown unique
attributes like small dimensions, high catalytic capability,
large surface area, high conductance and great chemical
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were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy
dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and field emission
scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) techniques. DPV
responses of PIR and AML increased linearly with their
concentration in wide linear dynamic ranges of 0.6–
320.0 μM and 1.0–250.0 μM, respectively. The limits of
detection were 0.061 μM for PIR and 0.092 μM for AML.
The excellent analytical figure of merits of the proposed
modified electrode leads to application of it promising
electrochemical sensor to determine PIR and AML in
human serum and urine with satisfactory results.
stability. therefore, they have been used favorably as a
modifier in electrochemical sensors [17, 18].
PIR is an analgesic drug of the oxicam class that has
been known as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug
(NSAID) [19, 20]. It has been generally used to treat
rheumatoid arthritis spondylitis, osteoarthritis, ankylosing
and other diseases accompanied by an inflammatory
process or the pain syndrome [21]. In addition, this drug
displays chemosuppressive activity and chemopreventive
in various cancerous cell lines and animal models [22]. A
number of analytical analyses include high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC) [23, 24], capillary electro-
phoresis [25], spectrofluorometry [26], spectrophotometry
[27] reported for the determination of PIR. These
techniques often have some disadvantages such as time-
consuming analysis, high cost and tedious sample pre-
treatment steps. In contrast, electrochemical techniques
[a] A. Dehdashti, A. Babaei
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Arak Uni-
versity, Arak, I.R. IRAN
Tel.: + 98 863 4173415
Fax: + 98 863 4173406
E-mail: ali-babaei@araku.ac.ir
[b] A. Babaei
Institute of Nanosciences & Nanotechnology, Arak University,
38156-8-8349, Arak, I.R. IRAN
Supporting information for this article is available on the
WWW under https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.201900580
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exhibit many advantages to determine PIR in various
matrices, including, high sensitivity, simplicity, less time
consuming, fast and inexpensive [28–31].
AML is a calcium channel blocker of the dihydropyr-
idine derivatives [32]. To enhance the supply of blood and
oxygen to the heart, AML relaxes the blood vessels. As a
result, AML is used widely in the treatment of hyper-
tension and angina [33–35]. Further, AML is prescribed
for sick with diabetes, if they obtain heart related ailments
that necessitate use to calcium channel blocker drugs.
Different methods have been employed to determine
AML in biological samples such as HPLC [36, 37], gas
chromatography (GC) [38, 39], spectrophotometry [40, 41]
and capillary electrophoresis [42], several electrochemical
methods have been recently used to determine AML
because of their many mentioned advantages [43–46].
Chronic pain and hypertension can be frequent
comorbidities in the senile people and those with chronic
disease; thus, concomitant application of non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as PIR and
antihypertensives such as AML is common. NSAIDs may
increase blood pressure and blunt the effects of many
antihypertensives. The results of study in 2008 showed
that AML is suited for hypertensive patients taking
concomitant NSAIDs like PIR [47]. Therefore, rapid and
simple simultaneous determination of PIR and AML in
real samples is required due to the therapeutic impor-
tance. Recently, the article has been published applying
liquid chromatographic method to determine captopril,
piroxicam, and amlodipine simultaneously in real samples
[48]. Electrochemical methods with previous mentioned
advantages are the powerful choice to determine electro-
active compounds. As far as we know, there has been no
investigation on the application of the electrochemical
sensor for the simultaneous sensing of PIR and AML yet.
For these reasons, the main purpose of this work is to
develop a simple and sensitive electrochemical sensor for
rapid and reliable sensing of PIR and AML simultane-
ously in aqueous solutions.
2 Experimental
2.1 Chemicals and Reagents
PIR, AML (as besylate, assay: � 98 %), nickel (II) nitrate
hexahydrate (Ni(NO3)2.6H2O), (NH4)2[PtCl6] and sodium
hydroxide were supplied from Sigma-Aldrich Co.
MWCNTs (purity > 95 %) with the tube length of 1–
10 μm and number of walls of 3–15 were supplied from
Plasma Chem GmbH Co. Citrate buffer solution (CBS)
was prepared from 0.1 M citric acid and 0.1 M sodium
citrate solutions. Electrochemical experiments were car-
ried out in solution of 0.1 M CBS (pH 5.0). All solutions
were prepared by double distilled water. About 10 mL of
the urine and blood serum samples were centrifuged;
then, after filtering, they were diluted 10-times with buffer
and used to determine spiked PIR and AML in the real
sample without any further pretreatment.
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2.2 Apparatus
Voltammetric measurements were done by applying an
Autolab PGSTAT 30 Potentiostat/Galvanostat (EcoChe-
mie, The Netherlands). For electrochemical investiga-
tions, a three electrodes system including the Pt NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE, saturated Ag/AgCl and platinum rod
were applied as working, reference and counter electro-
des, respectively. The pH measurements of the CBS were
accomplished at room temperature by using a Metrohm
744 pH meter. The XRD patterns were registered by X-
ray diffraction instrument (PHILIPS, model PW1730). A
field effect scanning electron microscope with an EDX
detector. (FESEM, TESCAN, model MIRA III) was used
for morphological investigation.
2.3 Synthesis of Pt doped NiO Nanoparticles
In a simple sol-gel synthesis procedure, the Pt doped NiO
nanoparticles were prepared by dissolving 0.2 g starch in
20 mL deionized water at 40 °C for 10 min. Then 50 mL
Ni(NO3)2.6H2O (0.5 M) solution and 0.03 g ammonium
hexachloroplatinate were added the previous solution and
the solution stirred for 45 min at room temperature.
Afterward, sodium hydroxide (1.0 M) was added dropwise
to the solution until the pH reached 9 and then solution
stirred for 3.0 h. Finally, the resulting light-green gel was
washed thoroughly with deionized water and ethanol to
remove any impurities; it was put to dry in a vacuum oven
at 70 °C for 24 h and then calcinated at 500 °C for 3 h to
obtain Pt doped NiO nanoparticles.
2.4 Preparation of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE
Prior to Modification, the bare GCE was polished using
an aqueous slurry of 0.3 and 0.05 μm alumina and rinsed
thoroughly with double-distilled water. Afterward, it was
sonicated in a 1 : 1 mixture of water-ethanol for 5 min and
then dried under a nitrogen gas flow. The amounts of Pt
doped NiO nanoparticles and MWCNTs in dimeth-
ylformamide (DMF) were altered to reach the highest
sensitivity of the sensor. According to the results, it was
possible to have the best sensitivity for the modified
electrode through a suspension mixture of 10 % Pt doped
NiO and 90 % MWCNTs in dimethylformamide (DMF).
This suspension was dispersed by remain in ultrasonic
bath for 30 min. In the final step, 20 μL of this suspension
was cast on the cleaned GCE surface. The electrode was
then dried at room temperature for achieve the Pt NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE.
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Characterization of Pt Doped NiO/MWCNTs
Nanocomposite
The XRD analyses of the pure NiO and Pt doped NiO
nanoparticles are shown in Figure 1. Figure 1(a) displays
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Fig. 1. The XRD patterns of the pure NiO nanoparticles (a) and Pt doped NiO nanoparticles (b); EDX spectrums of the Pt doped NiO
nanoparticles (c) and Pt doped NiO/MWCNTs nanocomposite (d); FESEM images of the pure NiO nanoparticles (e); Pt doped NiO
nanoparticles (f) and Pt doped NiO/MWCNTs nanocomposite (g).

the XRD analysis of pure NiO nanoparticles that the
prominent peaks at 37.2°, 43.3°, 62.7°, 75.3° and 79.4°
correspond to planes of (111), (200), (220), (311) and
(222), respectively, exhibits a NiO cubic structure accord-
ing to JCPDS: 73–1523 [49]. Figure 1(b) displays the XRD
pattern of Pt doped NiO nanoparticles.
As can be seen, the rutile structure of NiO nano-
particles has not changed. In addition no corresponding
diffraction peaks from dopant was observed due to the
fact that the amount of doped Pt in the synthesized
products is very small. However, upon adding up the
dopant, the decrease in the intensity of diffraction peaks,
accompanied by a small broadening in the width has been
observed. This can due to the decrease of nanoparticle
size. This result corresponds with the FESEM results.
Therefore, it is believed that the Pt + 4 ions could be
substituted for the Ni + 2 ions in NiO nanostructures with
no alteration in its rutile structure. In order to check

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whether metallic ions Pt + 4 were successfully doped into
the NiO nanoparticles, the EDX analyses were further
conducted and presented in Figure 1(c,d). According to
Figure 1(c), the EDX investigation of the Pt doped NiO
nanoparticles displayed the existence of Ni, O, and Pt.
This result demonstrates that Pt is successfully doped into
the NiO nanoparticles, although no XRD diffraction
peaks were observed in Figure 1(b). According to Fig-
ure 1(d), the EDX investigation of the Pt doped NiO/
MWCNTs displayed the existence of C, Ni, O, and Pt.
The presence of Ni, O, and Pt peaks along with C peak
verified that MWCNT was successfully modified with Pt
doped NiO nanoparticles.
FESEM images were used to investigate the surface
morphology of the NiO nanoparticles, Pt doped NiO
nanoparticles and Pt doped NiO/MWCNTs nanocompo-
site. According to Figure 1(e,f), Similar observations have
been seen on both the samples, except that the increase in
Pt doping leads to decrease in nanoparticle size. Accord-
ing to Figure 1(g), the Pt doped NiO nanoparticles are
well located on the MWCNTs surface. As a result, the Pt
doped NiO/MWCNTs nanocomposite as a conductive
mediator could lead to the higher electrical conductivity
of the modified electrode.
3.2 Electrochemical Studies of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE
To investigate electrochemical performance of Pt NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE, CV experiments were carried out using
4 mM K3[Fe(CN)6] containing 0.1 M KCl as a redox probe
at the surface of GCE, MWCNTs/GCE, NiO/MWCNTs/
GCE and Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE (Figure S1). The [Fe
(CN)6]3 /4 redox system and the Randles-Sevcik equation
for a reversible process were used to appraise the active
surface areas of modified and unmodified electrodes [50]:
I pa ¼ ð2:69 � 105 Þ An3=2 D1=2 C0 u1=2
Pursuant to the Randles-Sevcik equation and the
slopes of Ipa versus υ1/2 (Figure S2), the active surface
areas of MWCNTs /GCE, NiO/MWCNTs/GCE and
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE were calculated about 10.01,
14.27, and 20.88 times more than the GCE electrode,
respectively. As a result, the Pt NiO/MWCNTs were able
to boost the effectiveness of the modifier on the GCE by
increasing active surface area and facilitating the electron
transfer.
3.3 Optimization of Experimental Variables
3.3.1 Effect of Supporting Electrolyte
Effect of the various electrolyte solutions, such as 0.1 M
of citrate buffer solution (CBS), phosphate buffer solution
(PBS) and acetate buffer solution (ABS) at pH 5.0 were
studied on the DPV responses of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE
toward PIR and AML (Figure S3). The Pt NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE displayed the best sensitivity toward PIR
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and AML in 0.1 M CBS. Therefore, further electro-
chemical investigations were obtained in 0.1 M CBS.
3.3.2 Effect of pH of Supporting Electrolyte
The solution pH as an important factor can affect on the
peak currents and potentials of AML and PIR at the
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE. The results of DPV studies are
shown in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 2(a), the highest
anodic peak currents (Ipa) toward PIR and AML was
observed at pH 5. Therefore the CBS with a pH of 5.0
was employed for subsequent experiments. Moreover, the
results indicated that variation the anodic peak potentials
(Epa) of PIR and AML with pH is linear (Figure 2b) as
follows:
PIR : Epa ¼ 0:028 pH þ 0:658 ðR2 ¼ 0:991Þ (2)
AML : Epa ¼ 0:024 pH þ 0:94 ðR2 ¼ 0:989Þ (3)
From the plot of Epa vs. pH, slopes of 0.028 and
0.024 were determined for PIR and AML, respectively,
which are close to the slope of 0.0296 V/pH at 25 °C.
These results suggest that the number of one proton and
two electrons are involved in the electro-oxidation process
of PIR and AML on the surface of the amplified electrode
as presented earlier [51, 52].
3.3.3 Effect of Accumulation Time
The accumulation time (tacc) as an effective factor in
increasing the sensitivity of determination of PIR and
AML were studied by DPV experiments (Figure S4).
According to the results indicated, the oxidation peak
current of PIR and AML increased with accumulation
time up to 80 s for PIR and up to 100 s for AML and then
(1) leveled off at higher accumulation times because of
Fig. 2. DPVs of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE in 90 μM PIR and AML
(0.1 M CBS, pH: 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6); tacc = 100 s, scan rate
0.01 V s–1. Insets: effect of pH on the peak currents (a) and peak
potentials (b).
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saturation of the electrode surface with PIR and AML.
Thus, an accumulation time of 100 s was set as an optimal
time for further analyses.
3.4 Electrochemical behavior of PIR and AML on
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE
The electrochemical performance of a mixture of 90 μM
of PIR and AML were studied using DPV method at
GCE, MWCNTs/GCE, NiO/MWCNTs/GCE and
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE (Figure 3).
The results display the highest oxidation peak currents
for PIR and AML at Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE that can be
due to largest surface area and the highest electrical
conductivity of Pt NiO/MWCNTs nanocomposite in
Fig. 3. DPV voltammograms of GCE, MWCNTs/GCE, NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE and Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE for 90 μM PIR and
AML in CBS (pH 5.0); tacc = 100 s, scan rate 0.01 V s–1.
Fig. 4. Cyclic voltammetry curves of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE in
90 μM PIR and AML at different scan rates (10 180 mV s–1),
Insets: Plot of linear dependence of peak currents with square
root of scan rates (υ1/2).
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comparison with NiO/MWCNTs and MWCNTs. In addi-
tion, the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE shows the potential
shift to lowest positive values that can be because of
highest electro-catalytic behavior of Pt doped NiO nano-
particles on oxidation of PIR and AML. Therefore, the
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE was applied for a high-sensitivity
simultaneous determination of AML and PIR.
3.5 Effect of Scanning Rate
The effect of scan rate on the oxidation peak currents
(Ipa) and oxidation potentials (Epa) of PIR and AML at
the surface of the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE was studied. In
order to study the mechanism of the corresponding redox
reactions, the cyclic voltammograms of 90 μM of PIR and
AML were obtained in the range of 10 to 180 mVs 1
(Figure 4). As can be seen in the inset of Figure 4, the
oxidation peak currents of PIR and AML displayed a
linear relationship with the square root of scan rate (υ1/2)
in all scan rate ranges, corresponding to the following
equations:
PIR : I pa ðmAÞ ¼ 270:6 u1=2 ðV s 1 Þ1=2 19:01
2
(4)
R ¼ 0:997
AML : I pa ðmAÞ ¼ 242:4 u1=2 ðV s 1 Þ1=2 18:62
2
(5)
R ¼ 0:998
These results indicated electron-transfer reactions of
PIR and AML at the proposed sensor surface were
diffusion controlled processes.
For an irreversible anodic reaction, the electron trans-
fer rate constant (ks) and charge transfer coefficient (α)
can be obtained by determining the difference of Ep
versus lnυ using Laviron’s theory, corresponding to the
following equations [53]:
Ep ¼ E0 ðRT=aa nFÞ ln ðRTKs =aa nFÞþ
(6)
ðRT=aa nFÞ lnu
It is possible to determine the formal potential (E°)
from the intercept of Ep versus υ curve by extrapolating to
the vertical axis at υ = 0 [54]. The values of αa for PIR and
AML were calculated to be 0.5 and 0.41, respectively, by
considering the slope of the straight line of Ep versus lnυ
(Figure S5). Using E° and αa values, the values of Ks for
PIR and AML were calculated to be 0.68 s 1 and
0.47 s 1respectively. The high value of Ks indicated the
significant capability of the Pt NiO/MWCNTs nanocom-
posite to elevate electron transfer between the analytes
and the proposed sensor surface.
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3.6 Chronoamperometric Study of PIR and AML
To obtain the diffusion coefficient (D) of PIR and AML
at Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE, the CA method was used
(Figure 5).
The CA data were analyzed using Cottrell equa-
tion [55]:
I ¼ n F D1=2 A C0 p 1=2
t 1=2
(7)
Under the diffusion control condition, the plot of I
versus t 1/2 is linear, and the value of D can be calculated
from its slope. The plots of I versus t 1/2 for PIR and AML
are shown in the insets. The values of D were estimated
to be 9.1 × 10 5 cm2 s 1 and 2.8 × 10 5 cm2 s 1 for PIR and
AML, respectively.
PIR and AML in 0.1 M CBS (pH 5.0) (Figure 6). Figur-
es 6a and 6b display the calibration plot of the mixture of
PIR and AML, respectively.
As shown, the peak currents were proportional to PIR
and AML concentrations in the range of 0.6–320.0 μM
and 1.0–250.0 μM, respectively. When the signal to noise
ratio (S/N) is 3, the detection limits were calculated to be
0.061 μM and 0.092 μM for PIR and AML, respectively.
The corresponding calibration equations for PIR and
AML are as follows:
PIR : I pa ðmAÞ ¼ 1:208 C ðmMÞ þ 1:596
(8)
ðR2 ¼ 0:998Þ
AML : I pa ðmAÞ ¼ 0:640 C ðmMÞ þ 3:485
(9)
ðR2 ¼ 0:998Þ

These results showed that Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE is

3.7 Calibration Curve and Limits of Detection
capable of providing excellent sensitivity and wide linear
To investigate the analytical performance of the proposed dynamic range with low detection limit.
sensor and quantitative determination of PIR and AML,
DPV technique was applied using Pt NiO/MWCNTs/
GCE with simultaneously changing the concentrations of

Fig. 6. DPVs of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE in various concentra-

tions of PIR and AML as 0.6 + 1.0 (a), 2.0 + 2.0 (b), 6.0 + 12.0 (c),
25.0 + 30.0 (d), 50.0 + 60.0 (e), 90.0 + 90.0 (f), 130.0 + 120.0 (g),
180 + 150 (h), 250 + 200 (i) and 320 + 250 (j) in μM under
optimum conditions, respectively. Insets: Plot of linear relation-
ship of peak current with PIR concentrations (a). Plot of linear
relationship of peak current with AML concentrations (b).

Table 1. Maximum tolerable concentrations for usual interfering

species.

AML PIR Interference

Cint/(μM) Cint/(μM)
1000 1000 K +, Na +, Ca + 2,Mg + 2 Cl , Br , NO3
900 800 Ascorbic acid
Fig. 5. Chronoamperograms curves of Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE in 700 550 Uric acid
0.1 M CBS (pH 5.0) in the presence of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 mM of 800 600 Aspartic acide
PIR (a) and in the presence of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 mM of AML 650 700 L-alanine
(b). Insets: Plots of I vs. t 1/2 obtained from chronoamperograms 500 450 Dopamine
for PIR and AML. Cint refers to interfering species concentration.

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Table 2. Results for PIR and AML determination in human serum and urine.

Spiked (μM) Added (μM) Proposed method Proposed method Reference method F-testb (%) t-testb (%)
Founda (μM) Recovery (%) Founda (μM)
PIR AML PIR AML PIR AML PIR AML PIR AML PIR AML
Human serum – – < DL < DL – – < DL < DL – – – –
10.0 10.0 10.21 � 0.22 9.84 � 0.34 102.1 98.4 10.47 � 0.25 10.61 � 0.38 0.77 0.80 1.35 2.62
20.0 20.0 19.74 � 0.53 19.58 � 0.76 98.7 97.9 19.68 � 0.57 20.39 � 0.61 0.86 1.55 2.45 1.44
Human urine – – < DL < DL – – < DL < DL – – – –
10.0 10.0 9.83 � 0.24 9.71 � 0.36 98.3 97.1 10.32 � 0.29 9.47 � 0.32 0.68 1.27 2.31 2.53
20.0 20.0 19.48 � 0.57 20.18 � 0.83 97.4 100.9 19.75 � 0.49 19.21 � 0.86 1.35 0.93 1.17 1.67
a
Average of three determinations at optimum conditions. c The theoretical values of F and t at p = 0.05 are 39and 2.78, respectively.

3.8 Repeatability and Stability of the
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE
The repeatability of the proposed sensor was studied by
successive determinations (n = 10) of 90 μM of PIR and
AML solution using DPV method. The relative standard
deviations (RSDs) were obtained 2.86 % and 4.12 % for
PIR and AML, respectively. According to the results, the
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE was not subjected to surface
contaminate during the voltammetric analysis that makes
the sensor excellent in terms of repeatability. To inves-
tigate the stability of the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE, DPV
experiments of PIR and AML were performed after
keeping the modified electrode in 0.1 M CBS (pH 5.0) or
air for a certain time. At wet condition, it was found that
the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE was subjected to six experi-
ments during 12 h leading to a less than 5.1 % and 6.5 %
reduction in the peak currents for PIR and AML,
respectively. At dry condition, retaining 89.6 % and
87.3 % of the initial oxidation peak currents of PIR and
AML, respectively after 10 days corroborated the high
stability of the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE.
3.9 Interference Studies
The influences of some the usual interfering species on
the sensing of 90 μM of PIR and AML at the proposed
sensor were studied under optimum conditions by DPV
technique. The tolerance limit for each interfering species
is shown in Table 1; it was taken as the concentration of
the interferent that gives an error less than 10 % in peak
current of target analytes. The results confirmed that the
usual interfering species did not influence the sensing of
PIR and AML in biological samples at the Pt NiO/
MWCNTs/GCE significantly.
photometric results as a refrence method. Statistical
calculations were indicated that both methods are in good
agreement with no significant difference for the 95 %
confidence level. The results are listed in Table 2. The
good recoveries corroborate that the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/
GCE could be efficiently used as a voltammetric sensor to
determine PIR and AML simultaneously in biological
samples without need any special pretreatments and using
time-consuming analysis time.
4 Conclusion
In this work, a sensing platform based on Pt doped NiO/
MWCNTs nanocomposite modified glassy carbon elec-
trode was introduced as a high-sensitivity electrochemical
sensor to determine of PIR and AML simultaneously.
The voltammetric responses of the Pt NiO/MWCNTs/
GCE were significantly improved toward PIR and AML
due to the synergistic electro-catalytic properties. The
proposed sensor presented numerous advantages such as
superior electro-catalytic performance, simple preparation
process, low response time, high sensitivity and stability,
wide linear dynamic range, very low detection limits,
excellent repeatability, high tolerance limit for common
interfering agents and satisfactory recovery to determine
of analytes in real samples which can recommend
Pt NiO/MWCNTs/GCE as a excellent and marvelous
candidate for feasible applications.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the research council of
Arak University for the financial support (No: 98.662).

3.10 Real Sample Analysis References

The proposed sensor application to determine PIR and
AML simultaneously in human urine and serum samples
was investigated by the standard addition method in order
to exclude any matrix effect and using DPV technique
under optimum measurement conditions. The electro-
chemical outcomes were compared with UV-VIS spectro-
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Received: October 10, 2019
Accepted: December 14, 2019
Published online on ■■■, ■■■■
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A. Dehdashti, A. Babaei*
1–9
Highly Sensitive Electrochemical
Sensor Based on Pt doped NiO
Nanoparticles/MWCNTs Nano-
composite Modified Electrode for
Simultaneous Sensing of
Piroxicam and Amlodipine