A novel screen-printed potentiometric electrode with carbon nanotubes/polyaniline transducer and molecularly imprinted polymer for the determination of nalbuphine in pharmaceuticals and biological fluids

A novel screen-printed electrode (SPE) for potentiometric determination of nalbuphine (NAL) is described. Carboxylated multi-walled carbon nano tubes/polyaniline (f-MWCNTs/PANI) nanocomposite is used as an ion-to- electron transducer and is covered by a selective polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membrane incorporated with molecularly imprinted drug polymer (MIP) beads as a recognition receptor for potentiometric determination a synthetic narcotic, nalbuphine (NAL). The SPE displays a Nernstian response with a slope of 60.3 ± 1.2 mV/decade (R2 = 0.999) over the concentration range 2.4 × 10−7 – 5.0 × 10−2 mol/L and a detection limit of 1.1 × 10−7 mol/L (0.04 μg/mL) with response time less than 20 s (