Introducing nickel nanoparticles on boron-doped diamond electrode for realizing high performance electrochemical detection of azithromycin

[Display omitted] •An electrode of boron-doped diamond with Ni nanoparticles (NiNPs-BDD) is developed.•NiNPs-BDD electrode based electrochemical sensor is proposed to detect trace AZI.•Electrode has high density of square pits with sub-μm sized Ni NPs embedded therein.•Electrode has a detection limit of 0.086 µM and liner range of 0.1–8 μM and 8–100 μM.•NiNPs-BDD electrode has selectivity, repeatability, reproducibility. The broad-spectrum antibiotic azithromycin (AZI) has been widely applied to suppress bacteria and fight infection. However, excessive use of AZI can cause serious side effects. It is greatly desirable to develop efficient and sensitive sensor devices for environmental monitoring and analysis of AZI. In this study, we develop the nickel (Ni) nanoparticle-modified boron-doped diamond (NiNPs-BDD) electrode to achieve high-performance electrochemical detection of AZI. The NiNPs-BDD electrode has square pits with Ni particles embedded in the pits, which provides higher sensitivity compared to unmodified BDD. The promoting performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of pitted features and Ni NPs on BDD electrode. The NiNPs-BDD electrode presents linear detection ranges in the wide concentration scales of 0.1–8 µM and 8–100 µM, and its limit of detection is 0.086 µM. In addition, the NiNPs-BDD electrode shows excellent repeatability, stability, and reproducibility with respect to most conventional electrodes.