Metallic Film Modified Screen-Printed Carbon Electrode for Determination of 17α-Methyltestosterone

Abstract

17α-methyltestosterone (MT) is a synthetic androgen. It is used widely for inducing an all-male population of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). In this work, the detection of MT was conducted using screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCE). These were a bare electrode, a bismuth modified electrode (Bi-SPCE) and an antimony modified electrode (Sb-SPCE). The successful electrode modification was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. The electroanalytical performance of the SPCE modified electrodes for MT detection was examined by cyclic voltammetry. The highest active surface area of 1.073x10-4 cm2 was obtained on Sb-SPCE. This indicates that Sb-SPCE can enhance the sensitivity of MT detection better than the bare-SPCE and the Bi-SPCE. The Sb-SPCE showed a linear response for MT concentrations ranging from 2 to 8 mg.L-1. The sensitivity obtained from the slope of a calibration curve was -0.452 mA.mol-1.L-1 in a Britton-Robinson buffer pH 4.0 containing Sb 16 mg.L-1 with deposition potential and deposition time of 1 V and 90 seconds, respectively. A linear relationship between the square root of the scan rate and the peak current revealed that mass transfer of MT to the electrode was driven by a diffusion mechanism. The limit of detection was found to be 1 mg.L-1.