Electrochemical Determination of Sunset Yellow Using an Electrochemically Prepared Graphene Oxide Modified – Pencil Graphite Electrode (EGO-PGE)

Recent advances in electrochemical detection of common azo dyes

PURPOSE

Food forensics is an emerging field and the initial part of this review showcases the toxic effects and the instrumental methods applied for the detection of the most commonly used azo dyes. Electrochemical detection has a lot of advantages and hence the significance of the most important techniques used in the electrochemical detection is discussed. The major part of this review highlights the surface modified electrodes, utilized for the detection of the most important azo dyes to achieve low detection limit (LOD).

METHODS

A thorough literature study was conducted using scopus, science direct and other scientific databases using specific keywords such as toxic azo dyes, electrochemical detection, modified electrodes, LOD etc. The recent references in this field have been included.

RESULTS

From the published literature, it is observed that with the growing interests in the field of electrochemical techniques, a lot of importance have been given in the area of modifying the working electrodes. The results unambiguously show that the modified electrodes outperform bare electrodes and offer a lower LOD value.

CONCLUSION

According to the literature reports it can be concluded that, compared to other detection methods, electrochemical techniques are much dependable and reproducible. The fabrication of the electrode material with the appropriate modifications is the main factor that influences the sensitivity. Electrochemical sensors can be designed to be more sensitive, more reliable, and less expensive. These sensors can be effectively used by toxicologists to detect trace amounts of harmful dyes in food samples.

Voltammetric Sensor Based on the Combination of Tin and Cerium Dioxide Nanoparticles with Surfactants for Quantification of Sunset Yellow FCF

Sunset Yellow FCF (SY FCF) is one of the widely used synthetic azo dyes in the food industry whose content has to be controlled for safety reasons. Electrochemical sensors are a promising tool for this type of task. A voltammetric sensor based on a combination of tin and cerium dioxide nanoparticles (SnO2-CeO2 NPs) with surfactants has been developed for SY FCF determination. The synergetic effect of both types of NPs has been confirmed. Surfactants of various natures (sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), Brij® 35, and hexadecylpyridinium bromide (HDPB)) have been tested as dispersive media. The best effects, i.e., the highest oxidation currents of SY FCF, have been observed in the case of HDPB. The sensor demonstrates a 4.5-fold-higher electroactive surface area and a 38-fold-higher electron transfer rate compared to the bare glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The electrooxidation of SY FCF is an irreversible, two-electron, diffusion-driven process involving proton transfer. In differential pulse mode in Britton-Robinson buffer (BRB) pH 2.0, the sensor gives a linear response to SY FCF from 0.010 to 1.0 μM and from 1.0 to 100 μM with an 8.0 nM detection limit. The absence of an interferent effect from other typical food components and colorants has been shown. The sensor has been tested on soft drinks and validated with the standard chromatographic method.

A new ratiometric molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor for the detection of Sunset Yellow based on gold nanoparticles

Since a high dosage or excessive intake of Sunset Yellow (SY) may pose a threat to human health, it is in great demand to construct an effective method to detect and control SY. Based on the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and dual-signal output mode, a ratiometric molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor (RMIECs) was developed for sensitive detection of SY. AuNPs not only provided a large specific surface area to enhance the electron transfer rate but also served as a reference signal (S1), together with SY signal (S2), to produce dual signals. For a proof-of-application study, RMIECs was applied to detect SY with a wide linear range from 10 nM to 100 μM and a low detection limit (LOD) of 1.60 nM (S/N = 3, n = 3). Besides, the method was applied in spiked food samples with recoveries of 94.0 ∼ 97.0 % as well as relative errors of 5.4 ∼ 8.3 %, revealing its promising potential in detection of SY.

Simple Preparation and Characterization of Hierarchical Flower-like NiCo2O4 Nanoplates: Applications for Sunset Yellow Electrochemical Analysis

The current work was performed to construct a novel electrochemical sensing system for determination of sunset yellow via the modification of screen-printed graphite electrode modified with hierarchical flower-like NiCo₂O₄ nanoplates (NiCo₂O₄/SPGE). The prepared material (hierarchical flower-like NiCo₂O₄ nanoplates) was analyzed by diverse microscopic and spectroscopic approaches for the crystallinity, composition, and morphology. Chronoamperometry, differential pulse voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry, and cyclic voltammetry were used for determination of the electrochemical behavior of sunset yellow. The as-fabricated sensor had appreciable electro-catalytic performance and current sensitivity in detecting the sunset yellow. There were some advantages for NiCo₂O₄/SPGE under the optimized circumstances of sunset yellow determination, including a broad dynamic linear between 0.02 and 145.0 µM, high sensitivity of 0.67 μA/(μM.cm²), and a narrow limit of detection of 0.008 μM. The practical applicability of the proposed sensor was verified by determining the sunset yellow in real matrices, with satisfactory recoveries.

Hydrothermal synthesis of CuFe2O4 nanoparticles for highly sensitive electrochemical detection of sunset yellow

The sunset yellow, as a synthetic food coloring azo dye, was detected in the present work using a new sensitive and selective sensor based on the modification of screen-printed electrode surface with Copper ferrite nanoparticles (CuFe₂O₄/SPE). Thus, a facile hydrothermal protocol was performed to prepare the CuFe₂O₄ nanoparticles, followed by characterization applying valid techniques, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Chronoamperometry, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were employed to determine the electrochemical behavior of as-fabricated sensor. According to the electrochemical findings, a greater anodic peak current was found for the sunset yellow oxidation on the CuFe₂O₄/SPE than that on the unmodified SPE. The electrocatalytic response for the sunset yellow oxidation on the CuFe₂O₄/SPE in phosphate buffer (0.1 M, pH = 7.0) was effective, with an excellent sensitivity (0.1919 μA μM^-1). There was a linear relationship between the voltammetric current and different sunset yellow concentrations (0.03-100.0 μM). The calculated limit of detection (LOD = 3Sb/m) for the sunset yellow was 0.009 μM.

Recent advances in carbon nanomaterials-based electrochemical sensors for food azo dyes detection

Azo dyes as widely applied food colorants are popular for their stability and affordability. On the other hand, many of these dyes can have harmful impacts on living organs, which underscores the need to control the content of this group of dyes in food. Among the various analytical approaches for detecting the azo dyes, special attention has been paid to electro-analytical techniques for reasons such as admirable sensitivity, excellent selectivity, reproducibility, miniaturization, green nature, low cost, less time to prepare and detect of specimens and the ability to modify the electrode. Satisfactory results have been obtained so far for carbon-based nanomaterials in the fabrication of electrochemical sensing systems in detecting the levels of these materials in various specimens. The purpose of this review article is to investigate carbon nanomaterial-supported techniques for electrochemical sensing systems on the analysis of azo dyes in food samples in terms of carbon nanomaterials used, like carbon nanotubes (CNT) and grapheme (Gr).

A comparison of PMT-based and CCD-based sensors for electrochemiluminescence detection of sunset yellow in soft drinks

The use of artificial colorants in food is highly regulated due to their potential to harm human health. Thus, it is crucial to detect these substances effectively to ensure conformance with industrial standards. In this work, we prepared a photomultiplier tube (PMT)-based electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor and a charged coupled device (CCD)-based ECL sensor and compared their merits in the detection of sunset yellow (SY) dye. The sensors used C,N quantum dot-embedded g-C₃N₄ nanosheets (QDs@NSs) as the ECL agent and K₂S₂O₈ as the coreactant. SY was analyzed on the basis of amplification in the QDs@NHs-K₂S₂O₈ ECL system. The PMT-based sensor realized ultrasensitive detection using a single electrode, especially at low concentrations of SY. A CCD-based sensor imaged the ECL phenomenon of an electrode array and provided the advantages of high throughput and time savings. Under optimized conditions, both sensors exhibited high specificity, reproducibility and stability; detection limits of 20 nM with PMT detection and 5 μM with CCD detection were determined for SY, with detection ranging over at least two decades. The practical feasibilities of these systems were confirmed by satisfactory detection of SY in real drink samples.