Hierarchical 3D Snowflake-like Iron Diselenide: A Robust Electrocatalyst for Furaltadone Detection

An electrocatalyst with a large active site is critical for the development of a high-performance electrochemical sensor. This work demonstrates the fabrication of an iron diselenide (FeSe₂)-modified screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) for the electrochemical determination of furaltadone (FLD). It has been prepared by the facile method and systematically characterized with various microscopic/spectroscopic approaches. Due to advantageous physiochemical properties, the FeSe₂/SPCE showed a low charge-transfer resistance value of 200 Ω in 5.0 mM [Fe(CN)₆]^3-/4- containing 0.1 M KCl. More importantly, the FeSe₂/SPCE exhibited superior catalytic performance compared to the bare SPCE for FLD sensing based on the electrochemical response in terms of a peak potential of -0.44 V (vs Ag/AgCl (sat. KCl)) and cathodic response current of -22.8 μA. Operating at optimal conditions, the FeSe₂-modified electrode showed wide linearity from 0.01 to 252.2 μM with a limit of detection of 0.002 μM and sensitivity of 1.15 μA μM^-1 cm^-2. The analytical performance of the FeSe₂-based platform is significantly higher than many previously reported FLD electrochemical sensors. Furthermore, the FeSe₂/SPCE also has a promising platform for FLD detection with high sensitivity, good selectivity, excellent stability, and robust reproducibility. Thus, the finding above shows that the FeSe₂/SPCE is a highly suitable candidate for the electrochemical determination of glucose levels for real-time applications such as in human urine and river water samples.