Electrochemical sensor based on NiCoCu-LTH and multi-walled carbon nanotubes for the selective detection of Crizotinib anticancer drug

The development of selective and cheap electrochemical sensor for drug detection is of great importance. Herein, a sensor was introduced based on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with NiCoCu-layered triple hydroxide (LTH)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) nanocomposite for the electrochemical detection of Crizotinib (CZT). CZT is an anticancer drug proved to treatment of the lung cancer. The proposed sensor illustrated excellent electrocatalytic properties toward CZT. Enhancing the catalytic cavities via designing the morphology of nanostructures and tuning the electronic structure through heteroatom doping are the best strategies to increment electrocatalytic performance. In this study, porous NiCoCu-LTH was synthesized via a rapid and simple method and then for the electrochemical investigations, the GCE surface was modified with it. Electrochemical data were recorded through cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Under optimum condition, there is a linear response between current intensity and CZT concentration from 0.001 to 1500 nM with the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.0003 nM. The modified GCE displayed acceptable selectivity, stability, reproducibility, and repeatability. Finally, the sensor was successfully employed to detect CZT in actual sample. Besides, the performance of the proposed sensor was compared with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as a standard method. • The NiCoCu-LTH cage was synthesized by an easy and cheap method. • NiCoCu-LTH cage/MWCNTs nanocomposite was used to modify the electrode surface. • NiCoCu-LTH cage/MWCNTs/GCE was applied to determine Crizotinib anticancer drug. • The modified GCE was successfully employed to detect Crizotinib in real sample. • Comparison of sensor performance with HPLC method for validation.