The facile co-precipitation synthesis of strontium tungstate anchored on a boron nitride (SrWO4/BN) composite as a promising electrocatalyst for pharmaceutical drug analysis

Metal tungstates are considered efficient electrocatalysts in the area of electrochemical sensors. Herein, we prepared an alkaline-earth-metal-based transition metal tungstate (SrWO4) through a simple co-precipitation method. Further, to enhance the electrocatalytic activity, commercially available boron nitride (BN) was used to prepare a SrWO4/BN composite via an ultrasonication method. The as-prepared SrWO4/BN composite was scrutinized using XRD, FTIR, FE-SEM, EDS, elemental mapping, and HR-TEM analysis for determining the phase purity, functional groups, and structural morphology of the as-prepared composite. The electrochemical performance of the SrWO4/BN composite was analyzed with the help of cyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry techniques using a three-electrode system. As-modified SrWO4/BN with a glassy carbon electrode (SrWO4/BN/GCE) exhibits better electrochemical activity towards the reduction of ornidazole (OD), with a lower cathodic peak potential (E-pc = -0.62 V) and an increased cathodic current (I-pc = -21.3 mu A) compared to other modified electrodes for the detection of OD, and a larger linear range (0.01-437 mu M) and lower limit of detection (0.003 mu M). Further, interference studies were carried out in the presence of hazardous metal anions and cations, some biological compounds, and similar structural compounds to examine the selectivity of the proposed sensor; SrWO4/BN/GCE reveals good selectivity. In addition, the practical feasibility of the sensor was inspected using commercial OD tablet and lake water samples, disclosing the acceptable recovery properties of the sensor in the presence of real samples. From all the obtained results, the proposed sensor utilizing the SrWO4/BN/GCE composite prepared via an ultrasonication technique is shown to be an appropriate candidate for the detection of OD.