Abstract
The goal of this study was to create a low-cost, simultaneous, and sensitive electrochemical sensor for detecting the imipenem and meropenem. In order to determine them simultaneously, the first electrochemical sensor was created by combining a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with a nanocomposite made of platinum-gold bimetallic nanoparticle-decorated three-dimensional graphene oxide (Pt-Au Bm-NPs/3D GO). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were used to evaluate the surface of Pt-Au Bm-NPs/3D GO/GCE. imipenem’s electrochemical signals increased as a result of the improvement of many sensitivity-affecting factors, including pH, electrode composition, and scan rate. The analysis of the CV data revealed that imipenem’s and meropenem’s redox were completely irreversible reactions. Chronoamperometry was utilized to ascertain the imipenem’s and meropenem’s diffusion coefficients (1.25 ± 0.02 × 10− 5 cm2s− 1 and 5.24 ± 0.02 × 10− 5 cm2s− 1, respectively). The imipenem and meropenem linear dynamic ranges were 0.001–800.0 µM with detection limits of 0.18 nM and 0.14 nM, respectively. Additionally, for the electrochemical oxidation of imipenem and meropenem, the DPV findings revealed two well-resolved anodic waves with a peak separation of around 230 mV, allowing for the simultaneous identification of both chemicals. It is very appropriate for detecting imipenem and meropenem in real samples because to its high sensitivity, low detection limit (nanomolar), remarkable repeatability, and ease of manufacture and renewal of the electrode.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Li, X. et al. A 6-year study of complicated urinary tract infections in Southern china: prevalence, antibiotic resistance, clinical and economic outcomes. Ther. Clin. Risk Manag. 13, 1479–1487 (2017).
Papp-Wallace, K. M., Endimiani, A., Taracila, M. A. & Bonomo, R. A. Carbapenems: past, present, and future, antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 55, 4943–4960 (2011).
Hashizume, T., Ishino, F., Nakagawa, J., Tamaki, S. & Matsuhashi, M. Studies on the mechanism of action of Imipenem (N-formimidoylthienamycin) in vitro: binding to the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Inhibition of enzyme activities due to the PBPs in E. coli. J. Antibiot. (Tokyo). 37, 394–400 (1984).
Gadallah, M. I., Ali, H. R. H., Askal, H. F. & Saleh, G. A. Development of terbium based sensor for determination of Imipenem in dosage forms and real samples. J. Mol. Liq. 276, 705–713 (2019).
Wang, J., Chen, Y. & Zou, Q. Inferring gene regulatory network from single-cell transcriptomes with graph autoencoder model. PLoS Genet. 19, e1010942 (2023).
Roberts, J. A. et al. DALI: defining antibiotic levels in intensive care unit patients: are current beta-lactam antibiotic doses sufficient for critically ill patients? Clin. Infect. Dis. 58, 1072–1083 (2014).
Roberts, J. A. et al. Individualised antibiotic dosing for patients who are critically ill: challenges and potential solutions. Lancet Infect. Dis. 14, 498–509 (2014).
Jin, Y., Sun, Z. & Gu, A. Z. Proteomics technologies in toxicity screening: a review. Environ. Chem. Lett. 23, 67–80 (2025).
Legrand, T. et al. Simultaneous determination of three carbapenem antibiotics in plasma by HPLC with ultraviolet detection. J. Chromatogr. B Analyt Technol. Biomed. Life Sci. 875, 551–556 (2008).
Sun, H. K., Kuti, J. L. & Nicolau, D. P. Pharmacodynamics of antimicrobials for the empirical treatment of nosocomial pneumonia: a report from the OPTAMA Program, Crit. Care Med. 33, 2222–2227 (2005).
Zou, L. et al. A novel reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for the simultaneous determination of Imipenem and meropenem in human plasma and its application in TDM. J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 169, 142–150 (2019).
Xue, B. et al. Genotoxicity assessment of haloacetaldehyde disinfection byproducts via a simplified yeast-based toxicogenomics assay. Environ. Sci. Technol. 57, 16823–16833 (2023).
Zhanel, G. G., Simor, A. E., Vercaigne, L. & Mandell, L. Imipenem and meropenem: comparison of in vitro activity, pharmacokinetics, clinical trials and adverse effects. Can. J. Infect. Dis. 9, 215–228 (1998).
Wang, Y., Zhai, Y., Ding, Y. & Zou, Q. SBSM-Pro: support bio-sequence machine for proteins. Sci. Chin. Inf. Sci. 67, 144–159 (2024).
Schuler, D. Safety and efficacy of meropenem in hospitalised children: randomised comparison with cefotaxime, alone and combined with metronidazole or amikacin. Meropenem paediatric study group. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 36, 99–108 (1995). (Suppl. A).
Norrby, S. R., Newell, P. A., Faulkner, K. L. & Lesky, W. Safety profile of meropenem:international clinical experience based on the first 3125 patients treated with meropenem. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 36, 207–223 (1995). (Suppl A).
Bhattacharyya, S., Darby, R. R., Raibagkar, P., Gonzalez Castro, L. N. & Berkowitz, A. L. Antibiotic-associated encephalopathy. Neurology 86, 963–971 (2016).
Wang, Y. et al. Identification of human microRNA-disease association via low-rank approximation-based link propagation and multiple kernel learning. Front. Comput. Sci. 18, 182903 (2024).
Wang, C., Calandra, G. B., Aziz, M. A. & Brown, K. R. Efficacy and safety of imipenem/cilastatin: a review of worldwide clinical experience. Rev. Infect. Dis. 7 (Suppl. 3), S528–S536 (1985).
Edwards, S. J., Emmas, C. E. & Campbell, H. E. Systematic review comparing meropenem with Imipenem plus Cilastatin in the treatment of severe infections. Curr. Med. Res. Opin. 21, 785–794 (2005).
Zhang, C. et al. Mechanism for the formation of natural fractures and their effects on shale oil accumulation in Junggar Basin, NW China. Int. J. Coal Geol. 254, 103973 (2022).
Zou, L., Yin, T., Huang, S. Q. & Zhu, Y. Occurrence of hepatic dysfunction and influencing factors among preadult inpatients treated with imipenem-cilastatin sodium. Adverse Drug React. J. 19, 353–358 (2017).
Dailly, E., Bouquie, R., Deslandes, G., Jolliet, P. & Le Floch, R. A liquid chromatography assay for a quantification of doripenem, ertapenem, imipenem, meropenem concentrations in human plasma: application to a clinical Pharmacokinetic study. J. Chromatogr. B Analyt Technol. Biomed. Life Sci. 879, 1137–1142 (2011).
Yang, Y. et al. Effectiveness of Omadacycline in a patient with chlamydia psittaci and KPC-Producing Gram-Negative bacteria infection. Infect. Drug Resist. 18, 903–908 (2025).
Bukkitgar, S. D. et al. Functional nanostructured metal oxides and its hybrid electrodes – Recent advancements in electrochemical biosensing applications. Microchem J. 159, 105522 (2020).
Wu, J. et al. A cost-effective and sensitive voltammetric sensor for determination of Baicalein in herbal medicine based on shuttle-shape α-Fe2O3 nanoparticle decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Colloids Surf. A. 717, 136850 (2025).
Ghasemi, L., Jahani, S., Ghazizadeh, M. & Foroughi, M. M. Simultaneous determination of amitriptyline and Venlafaxine using a novel voltammetric sensor of carbon paste electrode modified with octahedral Pd2+-doped Co3O4 composite. Mater. Chem. Phys. 296, 127176 (2023).
Zhuang, H. H. et al. Efficacy and mortality of ceftazidime/avibactam-based regimens in carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria infections: A retrospective multicenter observational study. J. Infect. Public. Health. 16, 938–947 (2023).
Jafari, S., Pourmortazavi, S. M., Ehsani, A. & Mirsadeghi, S. CuO-ZIF-8 modified electrode surface as a new electrochemical sensing platform for detection of free Chlorine in aqueous solution. Sci. Rep. 14, 18961 (2024).
Li, D. et al. Artificial intelligence-assisted colorimetric sensor array based on supramolecular self-assembled nanozymes for visual monitoring of pesticide residues. Sens. Actuators B. 444, 138493 (2025).
Razavi, R., Amiri, M., Divsalar, K. & Foroumadi, A. CuONPs/MWCNTs/carbon paste modified electrode for determination of tramadol: theoretical and experimental investigation. Sci. Rep. 13, 7999 (2023).
Du, B. et al. Ultrasensitive optoelectronic biosensor arrays based on twisted bilayer graphene superlattice. Natl. Sci. Rev. 12, nwaf 357. (2025).
Foroughi, M. M., Jahani, S. & Rashidi, S. Simultaneous detection of ascorbic acid, dopamine, acetaminophen and Tryptophan using a screen-printed electrode modified with woolen ball-shaped La3+/TiO2 nanostructure as a quadruplet nanosensor. Microchem J. 198, 110156 (2024).
Chen, Z. et al. A CRISPR/Cas12a-empowered surface plasmon resonance platform for rapid and specific diagnosis of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. Natl. Sci. Rev. 9, nwac104 (2022).
Hajmalek, S., Jahani, S. & Foroughi, M. M. Simultaneous voltammetric determination of Tramadol and Paracetamol exploiting glassy carbon electrode modified with FeNi3 Nanoalloy in biological and pharmaceutical media. ChemstrySelect 6, 8797–8808 (2021).
Kumar Singh, A. & Xu, Q. Synergistic catalysis over bimetallic alloy nanoparticles. Chem. Cat. Chem. 5, 652–676 (2013).
He, W. et al. AuPt alloy nanostructures with tunable composition and Enzyme-like activities for colorimetric detection of bisulfide. Sci. Rep. 7, 40103 (2017).
Hana, T., Zhanga, Y., Xua, C. J., Donga, J. & Liu, C. C. Monodisperse aum (M = Pd, Rh, Pt) bimetallic nanocrystals for enhanced electrochemical detection of H2O2, Sens. Actuators B. 207, 404–412 (2015).
Zhou, J. et al. One-step electrodeposition of Au-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles on MoS2 nanoflowers for hydrogen peroxide enzyme- free electrochemical sensor. Electrochim. Acta. 250, 152–158 (2017).
Shetti, N. P. et al. Electrooxidation and determination of flufenamic acid at graphene oxide modified carbon electrode. Surf. Interfac. 9, 107–113 (2017).
Cui, M., Huang, J., Wang, Y., Wu, Y. & Luo, X. Molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor for propyl gallate based on PtAu bimetallic nanoparticles modified graphene–carbon nanotube composites. Biosens. Bioelectron. 68, 563–569 (2015).
Ilager, D., Shetti, N. P., Foucaud, Y., Badawi, M. & Aminabhavi, T. M. Graphene/g-carbon nitride (GO/g-C3N4) nanohybrids as a sensor material for the detection of Methyl parathion and carbendazim. Chemosphere 292, 133450 (2022).
Bukkitgar, S. D. et al. Novel ruthenium doped TiO2/reduced graphene oxide hybrid as highly selective sensor for the determination of ambroxol. J. Mol. Liq. 300, 112368 (2020).
Li, H., Liu, L. & Yang, F. Covalent assembly of 3D graphene/polypyrrole foams for oil spill cleanup. J. Mater. Chem. A. 1, 3446–3453 (2013).
Wu, Z. S. et al. Three-dimensional graphene-based macro- and mesoporous frameworks for high-performance electrochemical capacitive energy storage. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 19532–19535 (2012).
Hummers, W. S. Jr. & Offeman, R. E. Preparation of graphitic oxide. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 80, 1339 (1958).
Zhang, S. et al. Graphene decorated with PtAu alloy nanoparticles: facile synthesis and promising application for formic acid oxidation. Chem. Mater. 23, 1079–1081 (2011).
Xu, J., Zhao, T., Liang, Z. & Zhu, L. Facile Preparation of AuPt alloy nanoparticles from organometallic complex precursor. Chem. Mater. 20, 1688–1690 (2008).
Li, J., Tang, W., Huang, J., Jin, J. & Ma, J. Polyethyleneimine decorated graphene oxide-supported Ni1-xFex bimetallic nanoparticles as efficient and robust electrocatalysts for hydrazine fuel cells. Catal. Sci. Technol. 3, 3155–3162 (2013).
Bard, A. J. & Faulkner, L. R. Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications second edn (Wiley, 2001).
Shetti, N. P. et al. Electrochemical behavior of flufenamic acid at amberlite XAD-4 resin and silver-doped titanium dioxide/amberlite XAD-4 resin modified carbon electrodes. Colloids Surf. 177, 407–415 (2019).
Bukkitgar, S. D., Shetti, N. P. & Kulkarni, R. M. Construction of nanoparticles composite sensor for Atorvastatin and its determination in pharmaceutical and urine samples. Sens. Actuators B. 255, 1462–1470 (2018).
Jhankal, K. K. & Sharma, D. K. Electrochemical studies of meropenem at glassy carbon electrode and its direct determination in human plasma by square wave anodic adsorptive stripping voltammetry. Chem. Sci. Trans. 5, 1008–1018 (2016).
Hilali, A., Carlos Jiménez, J., Callejón, M., Angel Bello, M. & Guiraúm, A. Electrochemical study of imipenem’s primary metabolite at the mercury electrode. Voltammetric determination in urine. J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 15, 768–775 (2005).
Lima Silva, F. W. et al. Henrique Cincotto, Development of a portable and sustainable electrochemical sensor using sludge biochar/graphite conductive ink for the determination of imipenem in environmental samples. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 13, 118774 (2025).
Attia, A. K., Al-Ghobashy, M. A., El-Sayed, G. M. & Kamal, S. M. Voltammetric monitoring of linezolid, meropenem and Theophylline in plasma. Anal. Biochem. 545, 54–64 (2018).
Sivaprasad, M., Swarupa, C., Dhananjayulu, M., Jayapal, M. R. & Sreedhar, N. Y. Graphene and polyaniline composite modified glassy carbon electrode for electrochemical determination of doripenem and meropenem metabolites. J. Anal. Bioanal Tech. 5, 1000192 (2014).
Atta, N. F., Galal, A. & El-Gohary, A. R. M. Novel designed electrochemical sensor for simultaneous determination of linezolid and meropenem pneumonia drugs. J. Electroanal. Chem. 902, 115814 (2021).
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by Islamic Azad University (Kerman Branch).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Hossein Jamali Paghaleh: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Shohreh Jahani: Methodology, Project administration, Writing – original draft. Mehran Moradalizadeh: Validation, Writing – review & editing. Mohammad Mehdi Foroughi: Writing – original draft, Conceptualization, Supervision.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Paghaleh, H.J., Jahani, S., Moradalizadeh, M. et al. Simultaneous electrochemical detection of imipenem and meropenem using a Pt–Au bimetallic nanoparticle–decorated 3D graphene oxide modified glassy carbon electrode. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36658-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36658-0


