Design of an Efficient Tin Selenide-Based Ternary Nanocomposite Electrode for Simultaneous Determination of Paracetamol, Tryptophan, and Caffeine.

Electrochemical sensors play an essential role in the medical arena through assessing the drug quality and diagnosing diseases. The design of sensors relies on the electroactive properties of the material meticulously chosen to modify the electrode. Here in this work, a facile ternary SnSe/TiO@GO electroactive nanocomposite was prepared using tin selenide (SnSe) in combination with titanium dioxide (TiO) embedded on graphene oxide (GO). The ternary nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman, FT-IR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy dispersive analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The ternary nanocomposite was then drop-coated on the GC electrode to form the SnSe/TiO@GO-GC electrode. Its electrochemical activity was demonstrated for simultaneous determination of paracetamol, tryptophan, and caffeine. The synergetic interaction of the components and their innate virtue showed enriched electrocatalytic activity such as a decrease in overpotential, enhancement in electron transfer, greater sensing ability and selectivity, wide linear range, and low detection limit toward the chosen analytes. Broad linear ranges of concentrations, 0.0089-410, 0.0136-87.66, and 0.0160-355 μM, with detection limits of 0.0030, 0.0053, and 0.0065 μM for paracetamol, tryptophan, and caffeine, respectively, were noticed. The electrode also displayed high selectivity, stability, repeatability, and reproducibility. Importantly, the study was successful for detection and quantification of the above components in real samples of blood serum, pharmaceutical formulations, and beverages.