Lipase/NiFe2O4-chitosan modified paper-based printed electrochemical sensor for the accurate detection of tributyrin

Abstract

High triglyceride levels in the human blood can raise the risk of developing hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Being a prime constituent of human body fat, managing triglyceride levels in the blood is critical for maintaining health. Simple and portable printed electrochemical sensors offer practical tools for detecting triglycerides, which provide accessible early detection and continuous monitoring. For the first time, we present a paper-based electrochemical sensor to detect tributyrin, a kind of triglyceride, using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). For this, a paper-based screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) was developed as a working electrode using screen-printing techniques on a flexible and biocompatible photo paper, and the working electrode was modified with a nickel ferrite-chitosan (NiFe2O4-chitosan) nanocomposite and lipase enzyme. The analytical response of the developed sensor was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and DPV. The fabricated tributyrin sensor exhibits the lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.051 mg/dL reported hitherto, a high sensitivity (0.564 μA/mg/dLcm2), and impressive stability for 40 days. The detection of tributyrin in human blood samples using the standard addition method showed a high recovery rate ranging from 91 % to 98.7 %, suggesting the real sample applicability of the sensor. Our findings demonstrate that the developed sensor is a promising candidate for tributyrin sensing with regard to efficiency, detection range, cost-effective, and selectivity.