High sensitive voltammetric sensor for nanomolarity vanillin detection in food samples via manganese dioxide nanowires hybridized electrode

Abstract

Vanillin is widely used as a flavoring and fragrance enhancer in foods. Rapid detection of vanillin is of vital significance and necessity for food safety. In this work, a sensitive voltammetric sensor to detect trace vanillin of nanomolarity in food samples was demonstrated by using manganese dioxide nanowires hybridized electrode. Firstly, a modified glassy carbon electrode was prepared using manganese dioxide nanowires functionalized reduced graphene oxide as a modifier (MnO2 NWs-rGO/GCE). Then the MnO2 NWs-rGO/GCE were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Vanillin's electrochemical behavior in the solution of 0.1 M H2SO4 was studied in detail. The results showed that the modified electrode had an electrocatalytic activity for vanillin oxidation. The adsorption capacity (Γs) and standard rate constant (ks) on the modified electrode were calculated by chronocoulometry (CC). Subsequently, after systematic investigation of second derivative linear sweep voltammetry (SDLSV) under the optimal conditions, the oxidation peak current was linearly correlated with vanillin concentration in the separate ranges of 0.01–20 μM (R2= 0.9808) and 20–100 μM (R2= 0.9964), yielding the detection limit of 6.0 nM (S/N = 3). In addition, MnO2 NWs-rGO/GCE showed the advantages of surface renewal, excellent reproducibility, good stability, and simple preparation. The method was applied to the nanomolarity determination of vanillin in commercial foods with satisfactory results.