Optimizing potentiometric ionophore and electrode design for environmental on-site control of antibiotic drugs: Application to sulfamethoxazole

▸ Plastic antibodies designed by surface imprint on graphitic carbon nanostructures. ▸ An electrical-based sensor made from pipette tips. ▸ On-site detection of organic drugs. Potentiometric sensors are typically unable to carry out on-site monitoring of environmental drug contaminants because of their high limits of detection (LODs). Designing a novel ligand material for the target analyte and managing the composition of the internal reference solution have been the strategies employed here to produce for the first time a potentiometric-based direct reading method for an environmental drug contaminant. This concept has been applied to sulfamethoxazole (SMX), one of the many antibiotics used in aquaculture practices that may occur in environmental waters. The novel ligand has been produced by imprinting SMX on the surface of graphitic carbon nanostructures (CN)