Ethylcellulose assisted exfoliation of graphite by the ultrasound emulsification: An application in electrochemical acebutolol sensor.

This work reports the sonochemical exfoliation of graphite (bath sonication with the frequency of 37/80 kHz and power of 60 W) and its electrocatalytic properties to the β-blocker drug. The pencil graphite (PG) was exfoliated by the ultrasound emulsification with the support of ethyl cellulose (EC). Herein, EC act as an emulsifier which aids to the exfoliation and also stabilizing the exfoliated graphite. This EC assisted PG (ECPG) was characterized by various analytical techniques which showed that ECPG has high crystalline graphene sheets. In some places, EC submerged to the graphene sheets which improve the dispersibility of graphene in water. The performance of ECPG was evaluated to the electrocatalysis of acebutolol (ACE) which exhibited good electrochemical signal. Therefore, the ECPG was utilized to the detection of ACE as the electrochemical sensor electrode. It showed notable sensitivity (2.87 µA μM-1 cm-2) appreciable linear range (0.01-200 µM) and satisfactory detection limit (4 nM). Furthermore, it displays acceptable anti-interference properties with other interfering ions.