A novel electrochemical sensor based on Fe3O4-doped nanoporous carbon for simultaneous determination of diethylstilbestrol and 17β-estradiol in toner

In this paper, Fe 3 O 4 -doped nanoporous carbon (Fe 3 O 4 -NC) was synthesized through the carbonization of Fe-porous coordination polymer (Fe-PCP), which are also known as metal-organic framework (MOF), and fabricated into an electrochemical sensor for simultaneous analysis of diethylstilbestrol (DES) and 17β-estradiol (E2) in toner. Fe 3 O 4 -NC was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, N 2 adsorption-desorption and so on. It is of great practical significance to achieve the simultaneous determination of the two estrogens because estrogens are co-existing in many real samples. The simultaneous determination of two common estrogens, DES and E2, was achieved through electro-catalytically oxidization at a Fe 3 O 4 -NC modified glassy carbon electrode (Fe 3 O 4 -NC/GCE). The peak currents of DES and E2 increased linearly as their concentrations increasing from 0.01 to 12 μmol/L and from 0.01 to 20 μmol/L, with detection limits of 4.6 nmol/L and 4.9 nmol/L (S/N = 3), respectively. This work was focused on the simultaneous determination of the two estrogens in toner. Furthermore, the recoveries of DES and E2 were 91.2–110%, in actual toner samples. The experimental results manifest that the sensor with a stronger anti-interference ability can be used for the simultaneous detection of DES and E2 in the actual toner sample.