Designing a Modified Electrode Based on Cellulose Acetate Doped With Copper Nanoparticles to Electrochemical Detection of Paracetamol

ABSTRACT

A new electrochemical sensor designed for paracetamol (APM) detection was presented, using immobilization of cellulose acetate doped with copper nanoparticles (Cu ₂ O‐AC) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). This doped material was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). Square‐wave (SWV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) are used to examine the electrochemical properties of APM on the Cu ₂ O‐AC/GCE. Electrochemical tests revealed that the Cu ₂ O‐AC/GCE electrode had a significant synergistic effect, exhibiting a remarkable electrocatalytic oxidation capacity toward APM. The influence of experimental variables (accumulation time, supporting electrolyte, pH) was studied. Under ideal conditions, the constructed sensor illustrated a linear voltammetric plot for the APM in the concentration interval from 10 ⁻⁸ M to 10 ⁻⁴ M, with a limit of detection of 3.5 nM. The sensor exhibited good selectivity in the presence of potential interfering species, including Zn ^{2 +} , Mn ^{2 +} , Mg ^{2 +} , Cu ^{2 +} , Pb ^{2 +} , amoxicillin, oxytetracycline, and remazol red, with interference effects remaining within an acceptable range. Furthermore, the proposed sensor was successfully applied for APM determination in real wastewater samples, achieving satisfactory recovery values ranging from 95.4% to 97.5%. The sensor also demonstrated good reproducibility with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.0%.