Highly sensitive and selective non-enzymatic uric acid electrochemical sensor based on novel polypyrrole-carbon black-Co3O4 nanocomposite

Efficient uric acid (UA) detection from the blood serum is a key indicator of overall health status and thus helps in public health monitoring. Hence, in this article, we have proposed a non-enzymatic UA sensor using a novel polypyrrole-carbon black-Co3O4 (PPy-CB-Co3O4) nanocomposite (NC) modified glassy carbon electrode. Modern analytical tools like FE-SEM, TEM, EDXS, XRD, XPS, and FTIR spectroscopy were used to characterize the PPy-CB-Co3O4 nanocomposite. XRD and XPS analysis confirmed the fruitful development of nanocomposite consisting of PPy-CB and Co3O4. TEM images revealed that Co3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were randomly dispersed on the PPy-CB sheets. In the electrochemical investigations, PPy-CB-Co3O4/GCE sensor showed excellent sensitivity (0.8786 μA μM−1 cm−2), wide LDR (0.75–305 μM) to cover the entire UA range in human blood serum, and extremely lower detection limit (LOD ~ 0.46 μM). The newly developed UA sensor was further used to check the potential chemical interference using several biomolecules, presenting an extreme selectivity in UA detection. The PPy-CB-Co3O4/GCE sensor also exhibited satisfactory results in detecting UA levels in human blood serum. In UA determination, the PPy-CB-Co3O4/GCE sensor also displayed excellent reproducibility, repeatability, and stability. It is anticipated that this PPy-CB-Co3O4 nanocomposite fabricated GCE will emerge as an effective route to develop an efficient non-enzymatic UA sensor.