Hierarchically Ordered Tungsten Antimonate Nanoflowers Anchored on Carbon Nanofibers for Electrochemical Detection of a Food Additive
I. Jenisha Daisy Priscillal, Sea‐Fue Wang
Abstract
In the contemporary world, a nutritive diet is ruined by food additives to induce sensory enjoyment and marketable expediency. Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is an exogenous antioxidant added to food materials that prevent rancidity by decelerating the lipid oxidation and thereby increasing the shelf life of the products. However, on overexploitation, they may produce latent risks threatening human health, which necessitates a suitable sensing platform. In this report, an electrochemical sensor with a modified electrode made of WSb2O6/f-CNF nanocomposite was fabricated. The phase composition, elemental analysis, and morphological studies of the nanocomposite were carefully examined to authenticate the hybrid heterojunction formation between the counterparts responsible for the enhanced electrocatalytic activity. The modified electrode possesses antifouling properties, anti-interfering ability, cyclic stability, reproducibility, and repeatability. The proposed sensor holds broad linearity from 0.01 to 631.36 μM with a low detection limit of 9 nM and sensitivity of 0.127 μA·μM–1·cm–2. The consistency of the proposed sensor was established by real-time monitoring of TBHQ in milk, which is expedient for checking food quality and reducing the threat of mishandling of TBHQ in foods.