Bio-agent free electrochemical detection of Salicylic acid

Salicylic acid is an important chemical used in various industries including pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and agriculture. It is a key phytohormone responsible for initiating and regulating defense mechanisms against biotic as well as environmental stress in plants. It is a major component of Aspirin, a common anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic and analgesic drug whose overusage and mis-dosage can lead to various health problems in humans. In this work, a novel electro-reduced graphene oxide modified screen printed carbon electrode electrochemical sensor has been presented for the detection of salicylic acid based on its electro-oxidation. The proposed device offers an inexpensive, sensitive, selective, quick responding, rapid and easy to fabricate sensor to salicylic acid measurement with excellent performance. The proposed sensor is capable of measuring concentrations from 2 to 512 μM with a maximum sensitivity of 600 μA/mM/cm ² with high (piece-wise) linearity, and was used to determine salicylic acid level in fresh orange juice with 99% accuracy.