Electrochemical Sensor based on MgO Nanoparticles for Determination of Phenobarbital

In this paper, the MgO nanoparticles were used to develop a low-cost carbon paste electrochemical sensor. This sensing platform was used to construct a mediator-free sensor for phenobarbital detection. MgO NPs act as the catalytically active sites for the oxidation of phenobarbital due to their excellent electrochemical properties. The experimental results indicate the excellent catalytic activity of the MgO nanoparticles modified carbon paste electrode (MgO−CE) toward phenobarbital. The cyclic voltammetric results show the significant enhancement of oxidation current (62%) and reduce over-potential oxidation (287 mV) of phenobarbital at the MgO−CE. The improvement of electrochemical signals is due to the accelerated electron transfer between the CE and the phenobarbital. The proposed MgO−CE offers a wide linear range from 1 μM to 1800 μM with a low limit of detection of 0.34 μM and good reproducibility. Given the sensitivity, simplicity, low-cost, accessibility of the materials, it can potentially apply in clinical applications as phenobarbital sensors.