Studies on the sonochemical polymorphism of Sb2O3 on activated graphite for the electrochemical determination of imipramine.

This work reports the simultaneous sonochemical activation of graphite and sonohydrolysis of antimony chloride (SbCl3) in the alkaline medium. The experiments conducted by bath sonicator operated at 37 kHz of frequency and a maximum power of 150 W. The simple sonohydrolysis of SbCl3 alone produced an orthorhombic phase of Sb2O3, whereas, it produced mixed phases of cubic and orthorhombic Sb2O3 when introduced with graphite. Herein, the activated graphite (aGR) provides the best support to the growth of cubic phase. This cubic Sb2O3 is grown only on the graphite basal planes, which confirmed by scanning electron microscope. Moreover, the phase changes have identified by the X-ray diffraction, Raman and X-ray photoelectron analysis. The prepared aGR-Sb2O3 composite has applied to the electroanalytical studies of anti-depressant drug imipramine (IMP). The results showed that aGR-Sb2O3 revealed better activity than Sb2O3; the reasons are discussed comprehensively. Furthermore, aGR-Sb2O3 exhibited comparable analytical results for the determination of IMP.