Synthesis of an iron-nitrogen co-doped ordered mesoporous carbon-silicon nanocomposite as an enhanced electrochemical sensor for sensitive and selective determination of chloramphenicol.

In this study, we developed a sensitive electrochemical sensor for the detection of chloramphenicol (CAP). An iron-nitrogen co-doped ordered mesoporous carbon-silicon nanocomposite (Si-Fe/NOMC) was prepared as follows. First, an SBA-15 surface was treated with an iron and nitrogen co-doped carbon framework obtained from the polymerization of ethylenediamine and carbon tetrachloride via the hard templating method. The mixture was then carbonized at a high temperature (900℃). Finally, the Si-Fe/NOMC modified electrode was fabricated, and employed as a high-performance electrochemical sensor to trace the CAP in drug samples using the large surface area of the hetero-atoms iron, nitrogen and silicon co-doped in the porous structure. Cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry tests were determine to assess the efficiency of the sensor. Under optimized conditions, the sensor exhibited rapid current response for CAP in a phosphate buffer solution PBS with pH 7.5. The linear concentration of CAP ranged from 1 μM to 500 μM, with a limit of detection of 0.03 μM (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the electrochemical sensor was used to detect CAP in eye drop samples with satisfactory results.