Vertically well-aligned ZnO nanorods based biosensor for determination of paeoniflorin as an antidepressant medicine

In the study, a novel method for detecting paeoniflorin (PF), a significant antidepressant drug, is described that makes use of vertically aligned zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs). Vertically aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods and rGO were electrodeposited on the GCE electrode surface, according to structural investigations performed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). According to electrochemical experiments, ZnO NRs and rGO increase the electron transfer rate and support catalytic activity, making it easier to detect and quantify PF in the electrochemical sensor. The results exhibited that the linear range and sensitivity of ZnO-rGO/GCE were, respectively, 0.1–1305 μg/mL and 0.03792 μA/μg.mL−1. The PF sensor also achieved a low detection limit of 3.4 ng/mL. It was investigated to see how well a PF sensor worked to analyze a sample of human serum. Relative standard deviations (RSD) for sample detections for the proposed PF sensor were all below 4.13 %, according to analytical analyses utilizing the conventional addition approach, with recoveries ranging from 96.00 % to 99.25 %. These findings affirm that the proposed PF sensor exhibits a high degree of accuracy, rendering it well-suited for clinical applications and the analysis of human bodily fluids.