A cerium vanadate interconnected with a carbon nanofiber heterostructure for electrochemical determination of the prostate cancer drug nilutamide

Cerium vanadate resembling the shape of a hedgehog were interconnected with carbon nanofibers to give a heterostructure (referred to as CeV/CNF) that exhibits efficient catalytic activity for the electrochemical detection of the drug nilutamide (NLT). The heterostructure material and its modification were characterized by XRD, Raman spectra, XPS, FESEM, TEM, SAED, and EDX. A glassy carbon electrode was modified with the CeV/CNF nanocomposite. Best operated at −0.52 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), it exhibits a very low detection limit (2.0 nM), wide linear range (0.01–540 μM), high sensitivity (1.36 μA μM −1 cm −2 ) and rapid response towards NLT. It was applied to the determination of NLT in spiked human urine. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of cerium vanadate interconnected with carbon nanofiber heterostructure for electrochemical determination of prostate cancer drug nilutamide in biological samples.