Adsorption of sulfathiazole drug on the platinum-decorated zinc oxide nanotubes

• Published in: Journal of sulfur chemistry Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 645 - 656
• Main Authors: Su, Xiaojie, Yang, Shehua, Song, Yuxia, Li, Jing, Wei, Lixiao, Zhao, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 01.11.2020; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adsorption; Decoration; Density functional theory; Drug detection; Metal oxides; Nanotubes; Noble metals; Platinum; Recovery time; Room temperature; sensor; sulfathiazole; Zinc oxide; Zinc oxides; Zinc plating; ZnO nanostructures
• ISSN: 1741-5993; 1741-6000
• DOI: 10.1080/17415993.2020.1797032

Experimental studies have shown that the decoration of a metal oxide nanostructure by the noble metals increases its sensitivity toward different chemicals to a great extent. Here, the sensing properties of a pristine ZnO nanotube (ZnON) and its Pt-decorated form (Pt@ZnON) were investigated toward the sulfathiazole (STZ) drug by implementing density functional theory calculations. The pristine ZnON adsorbs the STZ drug weakly with the adsorption energy (E ad ) of -5.2 kcal/mol, and cannot detect it because of a minor sensing response of 3.38 at room temperature. A Pt atom was decorated on the ZnON surface with the E ad of -45.2 kcal/mol. Pt-decoration increased the E ad of STZ and the sensing response of the ZnON to −35.5 kcal/mol and 485.27, respectively. We concluded that the Pt@ZnON could be a promising candidate for application in the STZ drug sensors. A short recovery time of 12 s was also predicted for Pt@ZnO-based sensor.