Voltammetric sensor for electrochemical determination of the floral origin of honey based on a zinc oxide nanoparticle modified carbon paste electrode

Kamalika Tiwari,Bipan Tudu,Panchanan Pramanik,Rajib Bandyopadhyay,Anutosh Chatterjee

doi:10.5194/jsss-7-319-2018

Abstract

Abstract. A new methodology based on cyclic voltammetry using a chemically modified electrode has been developed for the discrimination of the floral origin of honey. This method involves an electronic tongue with an electrochemical sensor made from a carbon paste (CPs) electrode where zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles are used as an electroactive binder material. The bare CPs electrode is evaluated for comparison. The electrochemical response of the modified electrode in 50 samples of five different floral types of honey has been analysed by the cyclic voltammetric technique. The voltammograms of each floral variety of honey reflect the redox properties of the ZnO nanoparticles present inside the carbon paste matrix and are strongly influenced by the nectar source of honey. Thus, each type of honey provides a characteristic signal which is evaluated by using principal component analysis (PCA) and an artificial neural network (ANN). The result of a PCA score plot of the transient responses obtained from the modified carbon paste electrode clearly shows discrimination among the different floral types of honey. The ANN model for floral classification of honey shows more than 90 % accuracy. These results indicate that the ZnO nanoparticles modified carbon paste (ZnO Nps modified CPs) electrode can be a useful electrode for discrimination of honey samples from different floral origins.

Highlights

During the last few years, revealing the floral origin of honey has been a subject of many studies because of its potential in determining nutritional and medicinal aspects (Mandal and Mandal, 2011; Bueno-Costa et al, 2015; Chua et al, 2012)
In the present work we report a simple, low-cost and sensitive voltammetric electrode based on a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle modified carbon paste (CPs) electrode and the unmodified CPs electrode for comparison, fabricated for the determination of the floral type of honey sample
We focused our attention on the newly developed surface morphology which is responsible for the electrocatalytic behaviour and its capability in the electronic tongue response for the zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) modified CPs electrode sensor in honey floral discrimination

Summary

Introduction

During the last few years, revealing the floral origin of honey has been a subject of many studies because of its potential in determining nutritional and medicinal aspects (Mandal and Mandal, 2011; Bueno-Costa et al, 2015; Chua et al, 2012). It is reported that honey possesses a high therapeutic value, in treating ailments like heart and inflammatory diseases (Oryan et al, 2016; Yousuf et al, 2016). It is a naturally sweet food produced by honeybees from the nectar of plants and is mainly composed of sugar, enzymes, organic and phenolic acids, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and pollens (Missio da Silva et al, 2016; Kadri et al, 2017). A particular monofloral honey is associated with commercial value and floral origins of honey need to be assessed (Ozcan and Olmez, 2014)

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