A New Sensitive Fluorescence Sensor and Photocatalyst for Determination and Degradation of Sodium Valproate Using g-C3N4@Fe3O4@CuWO4 Nanocomposite and FCCD Optimization

In this research, carbon nitride nanocomposite coupled with Fe3O4 and CuWO4 was thermally synthesized and characterized by different techniques, including SEM, TEM, XRD, EDX, and FTIR. Due to sodium valproate's luminescence quenching of this nanocomposite, a reliable, accurate, sensitive, selective, and fast-acting sodium valproate assay was proposed. Optimization of this fluorescent sensor was carried out by the FCCD approach. In the optimum conditions, the plot of sodium valproate concentration versus nanocomposite fluorescence emission showed a linear response (R2 = 0.9918), with a range of 0-0.55 µM, the limit of detection (S/N = 3) equal to 0.85 nM and limit of qualification equal to 2.82 nM. Photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4@Fe3O4@CuWO4 (40%) nanocomposite exhibited a good potency to sodium valproate degradation. Active species of degradation including superoxide radicals, holes, and hydroxyl radicals were investigated using ammonium oxalate, benzoquinone, and 2-propanol to identify the mechanism of photodegradation action. The activity of benzoquinone in the photocatalytic process led to a reduction in the rate of analyte degradation, which indicates the prominent role of superoxide radicals compared to other species in the degradation process. The degradation rate of the analyte using the Fenton reagent was found to be around two times more than in the Fenton reagent-free process. The possible mechanism for the fluorescence sensor and photocatalytic degradation reaction was also discussed.