Development of cashew gum-based bionanocomposite as a platform for electrochemical trials

Cashew gum (CG) biopolymer is from natural source, biocompatible, non-toxic, inexpensive, and easily extracted from the exudate of the Anacardium occidentale L. tree, which is abundant in the north and northeast of Brazil. Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) can be embedded in the natural materials and have been used in several (bio)technological applications. This work presents a new cashew gum-based bionanocomposite containing PBNPs prepared in situ (PBNPs@GC), where the CG biopolymer was used as a matrix to prevent nanoparticles aggregation. Herein, investigate the effect of different CG concentrations about the bionanocomposite properties, and demonstrated it use as potential electrochemical sensor for drugs trials. The PBNPs@CG were characterized using UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD, DLS, zeta potential, TEM and cyclic voltammetry. The CG proved to be a suitable host for the PBNPs synthetized. These PBNPs were spherical, crystalline, stable, with a size of 5.0-15.0 nm, and without agglomeration. The bionanocomposite electrochemical behavior shown their ability to the oxidize some drugs, such as metamizole (MTM), acetaminophen (ACT) and methotrexate (MTX). These results demonstrated the innovative character of these bionanocomposite and encourage their further exploration for applications in nanobiomedicine like electrochemical (bio)sensors.