Electrochemical Determination of Uric Acid in Human Urine Using Nickel Hexa-Cyano Ferrate Modified Carbon Paste Electrode
Electrochemical Determination of Uric Acid in Human Urine Using Nickel Hexa-Cyano Ferrate Modified Carbon Paste Electrode
Electrochemical Determination of Uric Acid in Human Urine Using Nickel Hexa-Cyano Ferrate Modified Carbon Paste Electrode
Kedija Ali, Tadele Hunde, Mekonen Tirfu, 2Rishi Pal & R. C. Saini*
Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Sciences
Mekelle University, P.O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia
1
Abstract
Nickel hexa-cyano ferrate modified carbon paste electrode for selective determination of Uric acid
was used. The electrochemical behavior of uric acid at the nickel hexa-cyano ferrate modified
electrode was investigated by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetric methods. It was found that
the anodic peak current increased upon the addition of the modifier in the paste. The electrochemical
reaction was investigated in phosphate buffer solution of pH 9 using the present electrode. The
observed behavior was
sensor/ analyte interface. Optimization of the parameters required for both techniques have been
made at the best electrode composition of 20% nickel hexa-cyano ferrate, 55% graphite and 25%
paraffine oil. The proposed method is simple and rapid with its excellent selectivity and sensitive
within the linear range of 212 M uric acid with a detection limit of 1.8 x 10 -7 M and correlation
coefficient R2= 0.9976. The recovery results of uric acid obtained on the application of standard
addition technique in the urine samples, nickel hexa-cyano ferrate modified carbon paste sensor has
been successfully utilized for determination of uric acid in human urine.
Key words: Carbon paste electrode, Voltammetry, Modified Electrode, Uric acid, Nickel hexa-cyano
ferrate, Human urine.
1. Introduction
The development of voltammetric sensors for the determination of uric acid (UA) in
human fluid such as urine and serum has received considerable interest in recent years. The
electrochemical techniques received much interest, as they are more selective and less time
consuming than those based on other colorimetric or spectrophotometric methods. Electrodes,
modified with polymers /pretreatment were successfully used for the determination of UA [9].
Although these methods showed good selectivity and sensitivity, but these are mainly based on
adsorption phenomena, so these either need pre-concentration of UA before or the electrode surface
renewal after, each measurement. These suffer the interference effects of other electro-active
components and the oxidation requires a high over potential [10]. Electrochemical methods offer an
analytical platform which can exhibit a higher selectivity and sensitivity than the other commonly
employed methods and have the inherent advantage of lower cost and rapid sensing time. Various
methods developed and applied for qualitative and quantitative determination of UA, such as
chromatography [7], electrophoresis, mass spectroscopy; colorimetric methods [4] like on and have
been reported in literature widely.
Recently electrochemical sensors and biosensors have attracted considerable interests
because of their high sensitivity, low instrumentation costs, a ready capacity for miniaturization, and
direct electronic readout. Electrochemical detection of UA can provide inexpensive and rapid
screening techniques which support conventional techniques for both laboratory level and field-work
analysis. Various electrochemical sensors and biosensors, such as ion-exchange membrane coated
electrode, chemically modified electrode [5], [12] or enzyme-modified electrode [6], Poly (N,Ndimethylaniline) film-coated GC electrode[15], Glassy carbon electrode coated with paste of multiwalled carbon nanotubes and ionic liquids [3], Cysteine modified glassy carbon electrode [2], and so
on, have been developed for the sensitive determination of UA. These analyses are generally
performed at centralized laboratories, requiring extensive labor and analytical resources which often
result in a lengthy turn-around time. The official method for the determination of uric acid in clinical
laboratory is with the use of spectrophotometer. Uric acid is oxidized by uricase to produce allantoin
and hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide reacts with 4-aminoantipyrine and 3, 5-dichloro-2hydroxybenzene sulfonate in a reaction catalyzed by peroxidase to produce a colored product. The
change in absorbance is directly proportional to the concentration of uric acid in the sample. This
paper has presented a modified carbon paste sensor using nickel hexacyano ferrate (NHCF) modifier
to carry out the voltammetric study of uric acid.
2. Experimental Part
2.1 Reagents and Chemicals:
The reagents and chemicals used were uric acid (Spain), Graphite powder (BDH,
England), paraffin oil (Nice, India), di-sodium hydrogen orthophosphate anhydrous (BDH, England),
sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate (Nice,India), NaOH (Scharlau, Spain), HCl (Nice,India),
Potassium chloride (Nice,India),Nickel chloride (Nice, India) and potassium hexacyano ferrate III
(KiraLight, India) were used in the experiment. All chemicals were of analytical grade. The entire
present experimentation was carried out at room temperature using de-ionized water for the
preparation of all required solutions.
2.2 Apparatus:
The electrochemical experiments were carried out in a three-electrode system
containing Ag/AgCl as a reference electrode, platinum wire as a counter electrode and unmodified
carbon paste electrode (UCPE) or NiHCF modified carbon paste electrode as working electrode. The
experiment and processing of data were made using BAS 50W voltammetric analyzer, which was
connected to Dell Pentium personal computer. The pH of the buffer solution was measured with a 353
ATC digital pH meter with combination glass electrode. 1ml Syringe (Plastipak, Spain) and Whatman
filter paper were used for the preparation of the working electrode. During the measurements, the
solution in the cell was not stirred.
2.3 Preparation of Solutions:
Supporting electrolyte of phosphate buffers in different pH ranging from 4-10 was
prepared from 0.1M NaH2PO4 and 0.1M Na2HPO4 in distilled water. The pH of the solutions was
adjusted by adding drops of 0.1M HCl and 0.1M NaOH. Stock solution of uric acid was prepared by
dissolving 11.2 ml in 0.1 M Phosphate buffer solution. The required concentration of uric acid
solutions were prepared by diluting the stock solution with the supporting electrolyte (PBS).
2.4 Preparation of Nickel (II) Hexacyanoferrate (III)
Nickel (II)Hexacyanoferrate(III) was prepared by mixing a 0.25M potassium
hexacyanoferrate(III) solution and a 0.5 M Nickel(II)chloride solution with Ni/Fe atomic ratio of 1:2
followed by precipitation. The precipitate was filtered in a whatman filter paper, washed with distilled
water several times and dried at room temperature for 4 days.
2.5 Working Electrode preparation
Preparation of carbon paste electrode (CPE):
100 mg bare carbon paste was prepared by mixing graphite powder with Paraffin oil.
The composition of the paste was 75 % graphite powder and 25 % paraffin oil. The mixture was
homogenized with mortar and pestle for 30 minutes, and then the homogenized paste was packed in to
the tip of a plastic syringe. A copper wire was inserted from the back side of the syringe to provide
electrical contact. Then the surface of the electrode was smoothed against a filter paper. Carbon paste
electrode is ready.
Preparation of modified electrode (NiHCFE):
Modified carbon paste was prepared by carefully mixing the dispersed graphite
powder with NiHCF at varying ratio and subsequently added to 0.250 g of paraffin oil (25%). The
mixture was homogenized with mortar and pestle for 30 minutes. The modified carbon paste was
packed into an electrode body, consisting of plastic syringe equipped with copper wire serving as an
electric contact. Appropriate packing was achieved by pressing the electrode surface against a
whatman filter paper.
2.6 Real sample preparation for analysis
Urine samples were collected from four different volunteers using the technique of
per 24-hour urine sample and stored in the refrigerator.
transferred in to separate 100 ml volumetric flask. This volume is completed to the mark using
phosphate buffer (pH 9) by shaking thoroughly to dissolve. The differential pulse voltammograms
were recorded in the potential range between -200 and +1200 mV Vs Ag/AgCl at a scan rate 60 mV/s.
The percentage content or concentration of uric acid in these urine samples was determined from the
calibration curve.
3. Result and Discussions
3.1 Electrochemical properties of NiHCFE
Figure.1 shows the cyclic voltammogram of NiHCF modified carbon paste electrode
in phosphate buffer solution (pH 9). According to the cyclic voltammogram of NiHCF/CPE in buffer
solution, a redox peak is observed between -200 and 1200 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl). This is the potential
range where oxidation/reduction of uric acid takes place.
3.2 Electrochemical Behaviors of uric acid on NiHCFE
The cyclic voltammograms of a NiHCFE in phosphate buffer at pH 9 in the presence
(a) and absence (b) of 2mM uric acid were shown in Figure 2. With the addition of uric acid, the
4
A 2.85 10
A , when
compared with that obtained at the modified carbon paste electrode in the absence of uric acid. The
peak separation (E) from the cyclic voltammogram of modified electrode in the presence of uric acid
was found to be 364 mV, which shows the irreversible characteristics of the electrode process. The
electrochemical properties of uric acid at CPE without NiHCF have been examined using cyclic
voltammetry, and the result was shown in Figure 3. At unmodified CPE, 2mM Uric acid yields a very
low oxidation peak at 545.9 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl) in PBS of pH 9. Cyclic voltammograms of UA at the
NiHCF modified electrode and the bare electrode are shown in Figure 6 (curve a) and figure 7, which
shows that the current response of UA at the bare electrode is weak, ipa = - .23A and the current
response of UA at the NiHCF/CPE is much better, i pa= -285A. Oxidation peak current of UA at the
modified electrode is almost 200 times of the current response at the bare electrode. The peak
potential shifts towards less positive potential of 179 mV in comparison with the unmodified CPE.
This peak current enhancement and the fall of oxidation over potential indicates that the NiHCF can
significantly catalyze the UA oxidation process and the electron transfer rate of UA in NiHCF is much
faster, NiHCF/CPE greatly improves the determining sensitivity of uric acid.
3.3 Effect of Electrode Composition
The voltammetric response was highly influenced by the composition of the working
electrode in the determination of analyte. The effect of the amount of NiHCF in the carbon paste on
the voltammetric response of the modified carbon paste electrode was studied by varying the amount
of NiHCF between 5% and 25 % as presented in figures 4& 4A. The peak currents increased with
increasing amount of NiHCF up to 20% (w/w). For NiHCF amounts higher than 20% (w/w) the peak
currents decreased significantly. This occurs due to a decrease in the graphite content in the paste and,
consequent reduction of the conductive electrode area. The best carbon paste composition was found
for an electrode composition of 20% (w/w) NiHCF, 55% (w/w) graphite and 25% (w/w) paraffin oil.
3.4 Effect of the pH of the supporting electrolyte
The effect of the pH of the supporting electrolyte on the anodic peak current and peak
potential of UA at NiHCF modified carbon paste electrode was studied over a large pH range between
4 up to 10 in solution containing 2 mM of uric acid in 0.1 M PBS as supporting electrolyte at a scan
rate of 100 mV/s. As seen in Figure 5 both the peak current and peak potential varied with changes in
the pH of the solution. Cyclic voltammograms in figures 5& 5A represent the electrochemical
behavior of uric acid at different pH of the buffer in the range 4 to 10. Anodic oxidation peak current
first increases with increasing pH and attains maxima at pH 9 thereafter, it decreases as pH value
continue to increase. This indicates that the uric acid (UA) oxidation reaction at the interface involves
protons in it. The better sensitivity and shape of the voltammogram was obtained at pH 9. Therefore,
pH 9 of working buffer solution was chosen. The electrochemical oxidation of uric acid at NiHCF
modified carbon paste electrode is generally pH dependent. The graph of anodic peak potential versus
pH was plotted and the result shows that the anodic peak potential was shifted linearly towards less
positive side with increasing in the pH values. The anodic peak potential of UA was shifted from 597
mV to 362 mV with respect to the pH change from 4 to 10 (figure 5 B). This linearity indicates that
equal number of protons and electrons were involved in the electrochemical oxidation of UA at
NiHCF/CPE [28]. Based on this finding, the most probable reaction mechanism for the oxidation of
UA at NiHCF/CPE is shown below:
O
H
N
HN
O
-
O + 2H2O
-2e
-2H
N
H
N
H
NH2
H
N
O
N
H
+ CO2
N
H
3.5 Effect of Scan rate on the peak current and peak potential of UA at NiHCFE
The influence of the scan rate on the electrochemical response of UA at modified
electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The effect of scan rate on the oxidation peak
current of 2mM uric acid using NiHCF modified electrode at PBS (PH 9) was studied by varying the
scan rate from 20-100 mV/s. The resulting voltammogram (figure.6), the graph showing the relation
between ip versus v and v1/2 were drawn in figure.6-A& B, respectively.
The oxidation peak potential was observed to shift positively with the increase in scan
rate in the range from 20 mV/s to 100 mV/s. The oxidation peak current increased linearly as the scan
rates. The linear equation is:
ipa (A)=108.4+1.97v (mV/s)) (R2=0.9982);and the oxidation peak current increased linearly as the
square root of the scan rate,v1/2,ranges from 4 to 10 (R2=0.9987). These results indicate that the
oxidation of UA at NiHCF modified electrode is a diffusion-controlled process, which is the typical
characteristic of irreversible reactions. A scan rate 100 mV/s was chosen for the further studies.
3.6 Determination of Kinetic Parameters
The electron transfer coefficient ( ) can be calculated from the slope of the
resulted curve of
E pa=K +
2.3 RTlogv
2 ( 1 ) n a F (1)
Slope=
2.3 RT
2 ( 1 ) n F
(2)
Where is transfer coefficient, n is the number of electrons involved in the ratedetermining step, v is scan rate, R is gas constant, E pa is peak potential. Based on Figure 7 and Eqn.
(2), the value of transfer coefficient ( ) was calculated as,
0.121
2.3 RT
2 ( 1 ) n a F
(3)
The value of transfer coefficient () from this calculation is 0.756. Higher value of transfer coefficient
() indicates deviation from reversible system. By calculating from the slope of Epa vs. log v curve,
k can be obtained from equation (4).
K=E +
(1 )n FD
RT
2.3
0.78+
log
2
2
( 1 ) n
( K (s , h) ) RT
))
(4)
Where is transfer coefficient, n is the number of electrons involved in the ratedetermining step, E is formal electrode potential E= (E pa + Epc)/2 = 0.355 V; k is heterogeneous
electron transfer rate constant; D is diffusion coefficient. Based on Figure 7 and Eqn. (2), the value of
was calculated as 0.756; and using the equation:
ip = (2.99x105) n (n)1/2ACD1/2 v1/2, and D = 2.79 10
experimental intercept of Eq. (1), K was obtained as 0.342 cm-1. By substituting the above values in
4
Eq. (4), we found that the heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant k s,h = 4. 29 10
cms1.
Modifier used
Method
Linear
range
Detection limit
(molL-1)
0.8 x 10-7
1.5 x 10-7
CPE
GCE
Fe doped zeolite
Carbon-coated
SWV
SWV
(molL-1)
0.3-700
0.5-20
CPE
GCE
nanoparticle
Nafion
Poly(N,N-
CV
DPV
0-50
1.25-68.75
2.5 x 10-7
1.25 x 10-6
GCE
dimethylaniline)
Fe3+doped
SWV
2-80
2.32 x 10-7
GCE
zeolite/graphite
Graphene
CV
6.0107
2.010-6
CPE
NiHCF
DPV
2-12 M
1.14
3+
10
U-1
Expected UA
----
Recovery (%)
Found UA
03.34
----
0.49
4.0
9.0
07.34
07.13 1.2
98.50
12.34
3
12.00
97.23
1.04
U-2
0.0
----
03.17
----
1.10
06.94 0.8
4.0
07.17
96.78
9.0
12.17
11.93 0.9
98.06
0.0
----
4
03.69
----
U-3
0.52
4.0
07.69
07.37 0.4
95.82
7
9.0
12.69
12.33 1.6
97.14
U-4
0.0
1
03.21
----
----
0.23
4.0
07.21
9.0
12.21
06.97 0.6
96.67
7
11.69 0.9
95.91
6
a
4. Conclusion
In the present work, we have introduced a new electrochemical sensor based on
nickelhexacyanoferrate modified carbon paste electrode. The electrochemical oxidation of uric acid
was successfully studied by CV and DPV with this modified electrode. Several voltammetric
parameters have been optimized and their influence on the peak current and peak potential have been
studied. The voltammogram resulted from the study showed that an irreversible process at
electrode/analyte interface occur involving the transference of two electrons per molecule of uric acid.
The detection limit has been much improved to allow a sensitive detection of uric acid. The very low
detection limit and its high sensitivity suggest that the modified carbon paste electrode can act as a
useful electrode material for the development of electrochemical sensor for uric acid. The linear scan
rate dependence showed that the system undergoes diffusion controlled electrode process. The anodic
transfer coefficient and diffusion coefficient were determined. The proposed electrode was used in
determination of uric acid in human urine with satisfactory recovery.
5. Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Sciences,
Mekelle University.
6. Figures
-0.0003
C u rre n t (A )
-0.0002
-0.0001
0.0000
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
-400
-200
200
400
600
Potential (mV)
800
1000
1200
1400
Figure- 1: Cyclic voltammogram of NiHCF/CPE in 0.1M PBS (pH 9) and scan rate 100 mV/s.
Figure- 2: Typical cyclic voltammograms of NiHCF/CPE in 0.1M PBS (pH 9) at a scan rate
100 mV/s in the presence (a) and absence (b) of 2 mM uric acid.
-0.000004
C u rre n t (A )
-0.000003
-0.000002
545.9 mV
-0.000001
0.000000
0.000001
-400
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
20%
-0.00010
10%
C u rre n t (A )
-0.00005
5%
25%
15%
0.00000
0.00005
0.00010
0.00015
-400
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
300
C u r r e n t ) (
250
200
150
100
50
5
10
15
20
25
Figure- 4A: Effect of electrode composition on anodic peak current in 2 mM uric acid at 0.1 M
PBS of pH 9, ranging from 5 to 25 % NiHCF modifier at a scan rate 100 mV/s.
C u rre n t (A )
-0.0004
6
5
10
4
-0.0002
0.0000
0.0002
0.0004
-400
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
Figure- 5: Cyclic voltammogram of 2mM uric acid at different pH in 0.1 M PBS solution at scan rate
100 mV/s.
400
C u rre n t ()
350
300
250
200
150
4
10
pH
Figure- 5A: Dependence of the peak current for 2 mM UA on the pH of the supporting
electrolyte at NiHCF modified carbon paste electrode. Scan rate is100 mV/s.
600
Ep a (m V )
550
500
450
400
350
4
10
pH
Figure 5B: Plot of peak potential versus the pH of the supporting electrolyte
20 mV/s
-0.0003
-0.0002
Current (A)
-0.0001
0.0000
100 mV/s
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
-400
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
Figure-6: Cyclic voltammograms for 2mM uric acid in 0.1 M PBS (pH 9) at modified
electrode at different scan rates (20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90 and 100 mV/s).
320
300
280
C u rre n t (A )
260
240
220
200
R =0.9982
180
160
140
120
20
40
60
80
100
Figure-6A: Effect of variation of scan rate on the anodic peak current of 2 mM uric acid in 0.1
M PBS (pH9), Scan Rate: 20-100 mV/s.
300
280
C u rre n t (A )
260
240
220
ipa (A)=7.25+28.8v
200
1/2
1/2
(mV/s)
R =0.9987
180
160
140
120
4
10
1/2
Figure-6B: Effect of square root of scan rate on cyclic voltammetric peak currents of 1mM
uric acid in 0.1 M PBS of pH 9.
0.60
0.58
Ep a (V )
0.56
0.54
Epa= 0.342+0.121log v
0.52
0.50
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
2.0
2.1
log v (V/s)
a Modified/CPE
-0.000020
b Unmodified/CPE
C urrent (A)
-0.000015
-0.000010
-0.000005
0.000000
b
-200
200
400
600
Potential (mV)
800
1000
1200
1400
Figure-8: Differential pulse voltammetry of 1 mM uric acid at (a) NiHCF/CPE and (b)
unmodified carbon paste electrode and in 0.1 M PBS (pH 9) at a scan rate of 60 mV/s
pulse amplitude of 240 mV.
-0.000010
Current (A)
-0.000008
-0.000006
-0.000004
-0.000002
0.000000
-400
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
-0.00005
C u rre n t (A )
-0.00004
-0.00003
-0.00002
-0.00001
a
0.00000
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
500
C u rre n t (A )
450
400
350
300
250
ip=1.997-8.49(mV)
200
R =0.99996
150
100
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
240
260
-0.00005
C u rre n t (A )
-0.00004
-0.00003
-0.00002
a
-0.00001
0.00000
-200
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Potential (mV)
Figure 11 : DPV at different concentrations of uric acid i.e, (a) 2; (b) 4; (c) 6; (d) 8; (e) 10 and (f) 12
M in 0.1 M PBS of pH 9 at scan rate of 60 mV/s and pulse amplitude of 240 mV.
)
Current (
50
48
46
44
i ()
=36.86+1.11429C(
)
Concentration
( )p
2
R=0.9976
42
40
38
2
10
12