Silver nanowires immobilized on gold-modified glassy carbon electrode for electrochemical quantification of atorvastatin

Development of simple yet precise sensing platforms for rapid determination of biological species and drugs is of paramount importance, not only for analysis of pharmaceutical formulations during the production stage, but also in clinical practices and medical diagnosis. In the present research, we report on the electrochemical determination of atorvastatin (ATOR) by using silver nanowires/gold-modified glassy carbon electrode (AgNWs/Au/GCE). The modified electrode was constructed through a two-step procedure in which narrow silver nanowires synthesized via a polyol method are drop casted on a pre-modified GCE with electrodeposited gold particles. The results of XRD analysis indicated the purity of the crystal structure of Ag nanowires. The electrochemical response characteristics of ATOR are investigated by means of cyclic and differential pulse voltammetric techniques (CV and DPV) on the surface of the modified electrode. Moreover, the effect of various experimental parameters including pH, accumulation time and the modifier volume on the differential pulse voltammetric responses of ATOR is evaluated. The results revealed that under the optimal conditions, there is a remarkable enhancement in the peak current of ATOR associated with a noticeable decrease in its peak potential. The obtained wide dynamic linear range (10-100 nM) with a detection limit as low as 1 nM along with the ability of the modified electrode to successfully determine ATOR in pharmaceutical and human plasma samples turned it to a useful sensing platform for sensitive determination of ATOR in practical applications.