Facile preparation of tungsten carbide nanoparticles for an efficient oxalic acid sensor via imprinting

Efficient tungsten carbide (W₂C) nanoparticles were successfully prepared via a facile chemical reduction method. Structural confirmation studies were performed using spectroscopy and microscopy studies. The drop-casted W₂C nanoparticles on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) used for the fabrication of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) using oxalic acid (OA) in the presence of dopamine as a functional monomer through self-polymerization. For the first time, fabricated MIP-W₂C/GCE sensor used for the electrochemical detection of OA, a reliable kidney stone marker. The different loading mass of W₂C nanoparticles and thickness of MIP layer were used to investigate its electrochemical activity towards the OA sensor. The developed MIP-W₂C/GCE sensor operated in an extensive concentration level of 0.1 nM−100 µM, and it offered an LOD of 0.04 nM with an excellent regression coefficient of 0.998, good reproducibility which proved from the four different sensors (RSD − 2.8%), and retained nearly 94% of its initial activity even after 35 days. The prepared sensor also successfully demonstrated its capability to detect OA in the real urine samples with the recovery range of 98.03–100.24 %.