NdFeO as a new electrocatalytic material for the electrochemical monitoring of dopamine.

A new electrochemical sensor, based on NdFeO nanoparticles as electrocatalytic material, was proposed here for the detection of dopamine (DA). NdFeO nanoparticles were first synthesized by a simple thermal treatment method and subsequent annealing at high temperature (700 °C). The prepared electrocatalytic material has been characterized in detail by SEM-EDX, XRD, and Raman techniques. Characterization results display its sheet-like morphology, constituted by a porous network of very small orthorhombic NdFeO nanoparticles. NdFeO electrocatalytic material was then used to modify the working electrode of screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). Electrochemical tests demonstrated that NdFeO- modified screen-printed carbon electrode (NdFeO/SPCE) exhibited a remarkable enhancement of the dopamine electrooxidation, compared to the bare SPCE one. The analytical performance of the developed sensor has been evaluated for the detection of this analyte by means of the square-wave voltammetry (SWV) technique. The modified electrode showed two linear concentration ranges, from 0.5 to 100 μM and 150 to 400 μM, respectively, a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.27 μM (at S/N = 3), and good reproducibility, stability, and selectivity. Additionally, we also report an attempt made to propose the modified sensor for the simultaneous detection of dopamine and uric acid (UA). The procedure was also applied for the determination of dopamine in spiked real samples. So, this paper reports for the first time the use of a modified NdFeO screen-printed electrode for developing an electrochemical sensor for the quantification of important biomolecules. Graphical abstract.