A Novel Electrochemical Sensing Platform Based on Bimetallic Ru-Cu-MOF for the Voltammetric Detection of Ciprofloxacin Antibiotic

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an attractive class of highly ordered, crystalline, porous materials that exhibit large specific surface area, porosity, tunable structure and ease of functionalization. The presence of a number of uniformly dispersed metal components i.e. catalytic molecular units throughout the framework make MOF based materials a potential candidate for electrochemical sensing studies. However, pristine MOFs have the inherent drawbacks such as the inferior electrical conductivity that need to be addressed for its direct application in sensing platforms. In this context, the design of redox-active and highly conducting MOF is a research hotspot in the material science since it can overcome the inferior electrocatalytic activity of chemically modified electrodes (CME) based on pristine MOF. The integration of highly conducting metals into the framework is an efficient method to enhance the electric conductivity and thereby the electrochemical activity of synthesized material. The synergistic effect arising from the combination of different metal ions changes the surface electronic structure of MOF and thereby improve the mobility of charge carriers. Herein, an electrochemical sensing platform based on ruthenium doped Cu-MOF was developed for the sensitive detection of ciprofloxacin antibiotic. This work focuses on the synthetic strategy of Ru-Cu-TMA where the parent MOF, Cu-TMA, was synthesised by a facile room temperature mixing at ambient pressure. The present synthetic method is found to be a simple and efficient method compared to the conventional solvothermal method reported commonly for MOF synthesis. The successful integration of ruthenium into Cu-MOF created a number of electrocatalytic active sites which can favour the interaction with analyte species in sensing studies. The structural features and morphology of the synthesized MOF materials were studied using different characterization techniques like XRD, IR, SEM, XPS etc. The porous structure of MOF combined with higher reaction kinetics due to the incorporation of ruthenium cause a synergistic effect which makes the mixed-valent MOF a promising candidate for sensing studies. The composite, Ru-Cu-TMA, prepared was used as an electrode modifier for the sensitive detection of ciprofloxacin by electrochemical technique. Initially, the electrochemical activity of the chemically modified electrodes were examined and Ru-Cu-TMA modified electrode shows the higher current and fast electron transfer which paves the way for its application as sensing material. In addition, more number of active sites formed in MOF by ruthenium doping considerably increases the sensing performance of Ru-Cu-TMA. The electrochemical oxidation of ciprofloxacin on electrode surface is confirmed as an irreversible, diffusion-controlled process. The sensor exhibited a wide linear dynamic range (2.5 – 100 µM) with a lower limit of detection (3.29 nM) and sensitivity 0.0524 µA/µM. Moreover, the sensor demonstrates excellent selectivity, adequate stability, repeatability and can be used for real sample analysis. The porous structure of MOF combined with the enhanced reaction kinetics due to ruthenium doping together increased the electrochemical activity of the developed sensor. The enhanced electrochemical surface area and the increased number of active sites generated with the doping of ruthenium facilitates electron transfer with the electrode surface. Further, the aromatic ring system of CIP can interact with the conjugated ᴨ-electrons in MOF through stacking which further makes the Ru-Cu-TMA modified electrode a promising sensing platform. Figure 1