Decoration of titanium dioxide nanotubes by silver nanoparticles using photochemical deposition method and its application as an electrocatalyst to determine tinidazole

In this study, titanium nanotubes electrodes were decorated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs/TiO2NTs) and used as an electrocatalyst for reduction of tinidazole. AgNPs/TiO2NTs are constructed by anodization of titanium sheet metal and photochemical deposition of AgNPs on TiO2NTs. The structural and elemental analysis characteristics of the AgNPs/TiO2NTs electrode have been studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. Based on cyclic voltammetric data, it has been confirmed that the AgNPs/TiO2NTs electrode has good electrocatalytic activity to reduce tinidazole. Using the amperometric method, the plot of the current of amperograms versus the tinidazole concentration has two linear segments of 0.2-55.0 µM and 55.0-111.2 µM. A detection limit of 60.9 nM was obtained for measuring tinidazole at the AgNPs/TiO2NTs electrode surface. In addition, the designed sensor has been successfully used to quantitative measurement of tinidazole in pharmaceutical and human urine samples.