Fabricating BiOCl/BiVO4 nanosheets wrapped in a graphene oxide heterojunction composite for detection of an antihistamine in biological samples

Antibiotics are essential medications for human and animal health, as they are used to battle urinary infections and bacterial diseases. Therefore, the rapid determination of antibiotic drugs in biological samples is necessary to address the current clinical challenge. Here, we developed a heterojunction ternary composite of BiOCl/BiVO4 nanosheets enriched with graphene oxide (BiOCl/BiVO4@GO) for accurate and minimal-level detection of an antihistamine (promethazine hydrochloride, PMZ) in urine samples. The BiOCl/BiVO4 nanosheets were prepared by a wet chemical approach using a deep eutectic green solvent. The spectroscopic and analytical methods verified the formation and interaction of the BiOCl/BiVO4@GO composite. Our results showed that the thoroughly exfoliated BiOCl/BiVO4@GO composite retained good electrical conductivity and fast charge transfer toward the electrode–electrolyte interface in neutral aqueous media. In addition, the experimental conditions were accurately optimized, and the BiOCl/BiVO4@GO composite showed excellent electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of PMZ. Indeed, the BiOCl/BiVO4@GO composite demonstrated a good linear response range (0.01–124.7 μM) and a detection level of 3.3 nM with a sensitivity of 1.586 μA μM−1 cm−2. In addition, the BiOCl/BiVO4@GO composite had excellent storage stability, good reproducibility, and reliable selectivity. Finally, the BiOCl/BiVO4@GO displayed a desirable recovery level of PMZ in urine samples for real-time monitoring.