Pt-Pd-doped NiO nanoparticle decorated at single-wall carbon nanotubes: An excellent, powerful electrocatalyst for the fabrication of An electrochemical sensor to determine nalbuphine in the presence of tramadol as two opioid analgesic drugs.

In this study, a Pt-Pd-doped NiO nanoparticle decorated at the surface of single-wall carbon nanotubes (Pt-Pd/NiO-NPs/SWCNTs) was synthesized using a simple chemical precipitation method and characterized by XRD, TEM, and EDS methods. The results confirmed that Pt-Pd/NiO-NPs/SWCNTs were synthesized with good purity and at the nanoscale size. Moreover, a highly sensitive electroanalytical sensor was fabricated by incorporating synthesized Pt-Pd/NiO-NPs/SWCNT nanocomposites into a carbon paste electrode (CPE) in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate (EMICHSO) as binder. The Pt-Pd/NiO-NPs/SWCNTs/EMICHSO/CPE showed a powerful electro-catalytic activity for electro-oxidation of nalbuphine, and the results confirmed that the oxidation of nalbuphine was improved 6.34 times and relative oxidation potential was decreased about 110 mV compared to unmodified electrodes. The Pt-Pd/NiO-NPs/SWCNTs/EMICHSO/CPE also showed good catalytic activity for the determination of nalbuphine in the presence of tramadol and the oxidation potential of these opioid analgesic drugs separated with ΔE =460 mV. In the final step, the Pt-Pd/NiO-NPs/SWCNTs/EMICHSO/CPE was used to determine nalbuphine with a detection limit of 0.9 nM and tramadol with a detection limit of 50.0 nM in drug samples. The results confirmed the powerful and interesting ability of the sensor in the analysis of a real sample.