Selective voltammetric detection of uric acid in the presence of ascorbic acid at well-aligned carbon nanotube electrode

The voltammetric behaviors of uric acid (UA) and L-ascorbic acid (L-AA) were studied at well-aligned carbon nanotube electrode. Compared to glassy carbon, carbon nanotube electrode catalyzes oxidation of UA and L-AA, reducing the overpotentials by about 0.028 V and 0.416 V, respectively. Based on its differential catalytic function toward the oxidation of UA and L-AA, the carbon nanotube electrode resolved the overlapping voltammetric response of UA and L-AA into two well-defined voltammetric peaks in applying both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), which can be used for a selective determination of UA in the presence Of L-AA. The peak current obtained from DPV was linearly dependent on the UA concentration in the range of 0.2 muM to 80 muM with a correlation coefficient of 0.997. The detection limit (3delta) for UA was found to be 0.1 muM. Finally, the carbon nanotube electrode was successfully demonstrated as a electrochemical sensor to the determination of UA in human urine samples by simple dilution without further pretreatment.