Design and fabrication of an electrochemical sensor based on nanocomposite of dendritic polymer and reduced graphene oxide to measure sports nutrition lactate

The design, development, and application of a new electrochemical sensor for the detection of lactate in athletes’ urine are described in this paper. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendritic polymers form the nanocomposite upon which the sensor is built. The PAMAM/rGO nanocomposite, which combines the robust structure and active sites of PAMAM with the high surface area and better conductivity of rGO, improves the sensitivity and selectivity of lactate detection. The sensor demonstrated a broad linear range from 1 to 3200 µM, a high sensitivity of 0.07907 µA/µM, and a detection limit of 0.017 µM. The selectivity of the sensor was deemed sufficient for the detection of lactate at physiologically relevant concentrations in the presence of common interfering chemicals. Furthermore, the sensor showed good repeatability, reproducibility, and long-term stability; over the course of a month, there was no appreciable decrease in sensitivity. Real sample analysis, where relative standard deviation (RSD) values were less than 4.09% and average recovery rates were above 98.00%, validated the procedure’s accuracy and precision. The suitability of the PAMAM/rGO-based sensor for measuring lactate levels in urine samples is demonstrated by these findings, which pave the way for the development of real-time, non-invasive sports nutrition monitoring devices.