Palladium nanoclusters-coated polyfuran as a novel sensor for catecholamine neurotransmitters and paracetamol

A promising electrochemical biosensor was developed by electrodeposition of palladium nanoclusters on polyfuran film modified platinum electrode. This biosensor electrode was used to determine some catecholamines, namely dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine, ascorbic acid and paracetamol. The method of formation of the polymer film and deposition of Pd particles plays a key role in the electroactivity of the resulting hybrid material. This sensor effectively resolved the overlapping anodic peaks of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA) and paracetamol (ACOP) into three well-defined voltammetric peaks in differential pulse voltammetry analysis. The detection limit of DA in the absence and presence of AA and ACOP are eventually the same which indicates that the oxidation processes of DA, AA and ACOP are independent and that the simultaneous measurements of the three analytes are possible without interference. The electrodeposition of Pd on polyfuran improved exceptionally the detection limit about four decades. Moreover, diffusion coefficient measurements confirmed the fast electron transfer kinetics of the electrochemical oxidation of the analyte molecules at the sensor/solution interface. It is very interesting to note that the electrocatalytic effect of PF/Pd composite has been increased to be sometimes 21 times that of the pristine PF which has been considered for a long time to be of low conductivity and attracted low attention as a result of the difficulty of its formation and poor conductivity.