ZnO/C nanocomposite grafted molecularly imprinted polymers as photoelectrochemical sensing interface for ultrasensitive and selective detection of chloramphenicol

Nanomaterials-based photoelectrochemical (PEC) detection is becoming a rapidly-developing analytical technique in chemical and biological assays due to its unique advantages of easy miniaturization, high sensitivity, and rapid turn-around time. Herein, a molecularly imprinted polymer-assisted PEC sensor based on ZnO/C nanocomposite was suc-cessfully fabricated for the highly sensitive and selective determination of chloramphenicol (CAP). Benefiting from the hydrophilic functional groups (-OH,-COOH) and large surface area of bio-templated ZnO/C nanocomposite, the tight grafting of MIP with excellent recognition ability on substrate is easier and more stable than traditional PEC sensor, thus significantly increasing the performance. Under optimal conditions, the PEC sensor exhibited significant CAP de-tection performance in the range of 0.01-5000 ng mL-1 with a detection LOD of 5.08 pg mL-1(S/N = 3) and success-fully applied to the detection of CAP in milk sample. Our results show that ZnO/C nanocomposite and MIP can act as an efficient photo-responsible matrix to fabricate PEC sensor, providing important application potentials for pollutants control in food and environment.

Automated summary

Nanomaterials-based photoelectrochemical (PEC) detection is a rapidly-developing analytical technique in chemical and biological assays due to its advantages of easy miniaturization, high sensitivity, and rapid turn-around time. In this study, a molecularly imprinted polymer-assisted PEC sensor based on ZnO/C nanocomposite was successfully fabricated for the highly sensitive and selective determination of chloramphenicol (CAP). Under optimal conditions, the PEC sensor showed significant CAP detection performance and was successfully applied to the detection of CAP in milk sample. The results demonstrate that ZnO/C nanocomposite and MIP can be used as an efficient photo-responsible matrix to fabricate PEC sensor, with important application potentials for pollutants control in food and environment.