Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) is an antiretroviral medication with significant curative effects, so its quantitative detection is important for human health. At present, there are few studies on the detection of TDF by electrochemical sensors. This work can be a supplement to the electrochemical detection of TDF. Moreover, bare electrodes are susceptible to pollution, and have high overvoltage and low sensitivity, so it is crucial to find a suitable electrode material. In this work, zirconium oxide (ZrO2) that has a certain selectivity to phosphoric acid groups was synthesized by a hydrothermal method with zirconyl chloride octahydrate as the precursor. A composite modified glassy carbon electrode for zirconium oxide-chitosan-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (ZrO2-CS-MWCNTs/GCE) was used for the first time to detect the TDF, and achieved rapid, sensitive detection of TDF with a detection limit of sub-micron content. The ZrO2-CS-MWCNTs composite was created using sonication of a mixture of ZrO2 and CS-MWCNTs solution. The composite was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Electrochemical analysis was performed using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Compared with single-material electrodes, the ZrO2-CS-MWCNTs/GCE significantly improves the electrochemical sensing of TDF due to the synergistic effect of the composite. Under optimal conditions, the proposed method has achieved good results in linear range (0.3~30 μM; 30~100 μM) and detection limit (0.0625 μM). Moreover, the sensor has the merits of simple preparation, good reproducibility and good repeatability. The ZrO2-CS-MWCNTs/GCE has been applied to the determination of TDF in serum and urine, and it may be helpful for potential applications of other substances with similar structures.
Keywords: Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate; biological samples; differential pulse voltammetry; multiwalled carbon nanotubes; zirconium oxide.