Rational design of ultrahigh sensitive sunset yellow sensor based on 3D hierarchical porous graphitic carbon with sub-nanopores

Yajun Gao; Tingting Li; Tianyuan Zhang; Meiling Wang; Lu Gao; Zhenquan Yang; Zhanjun Yang

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130631

Rational design of ultrahigh sensitive sunset yellow sensor based on 3D hierarchical porous graphitic carbon with sub-nanopores

Food Chem. 2021 Dec 15:365:130631. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130631. Epub 2021 Jul 19.

Authors

Yajun Gao¹, Tingting Li², Tianyuan Zhang³, Meiling Wang⁴, Lu Gao², Zhenquan Yang², Zhanjun Yang⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Food Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225127, PR China; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225002, PR China.
² College of Food Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225127, PR China.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁴ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi 030024, PR China. Electronic address: wangmeiling@tyut.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225002, PR China. Electronic address: zjyang@yzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 34325348
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130631

Abstract

The content of sunset yellow (SY) in food must be strictly controlled, because its excessive intake may cause many adverse health effects. Herein, we proposed an ultrasensitive SY sensor by using hierarchical porous graphitic (HPG) carbon derived from polyaniline hydrogel. After a first step of polymerization, the HPG carbon was prepared through carbonization and further chemical activation. In particular, the activation process endowed the HPG carbon with a high content of optimized porous architecture (sub-nanoporous surface area accounts for more than 90% of microporous surface area), and thus providing a structural basis for high efficiency of SY pre-concentration on HPG carbon surface. Therefore, the proposed sensor showed record-high sensitivity (5285.7 A M^-1 cm^-2) and ultra-low detection limit (0.15 nM), which represents a performance improvement in SY sensing. Furthermore, the sensor displays excellent selectivity, reproducibility and stability, exhibiting a great perspective in ultrasensitive monitoring of SY in commercial products.

Keywords: Electrochemical; Porous carbon; Sensor; Sub-nanopore; Sunset yellow.

MeSH terms

Azo Compounds
Carbon
Electrochemical Techniques
Electrodes
Graphite*
Nanopores*
Porosity
Reproducibility of Results

Substances

Azo Compounds
Carbon
Graphite
6-hydroxy-5-((p- sulfophenyl)azo)-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid disodium salt