Nano-optosensor based on titanium dioxide and graphene quantum dots composited with specific polymer for cefazolin...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate detection of trace cefazolin is crucial for food safety and quality control.
• Existing detection methods may lack sensitivity, selectivity, or speed.
• Development of rapid and sensitive analytical tools is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate a novel optosensor for the sensitive and selective detection of trace cefazolin.
• To utilize nanocomposite probes integrating titanium dioxide, graphene quantum dots, and molecularly imprinted polymer.
• To evaluate the performance of the developed optosensor for cefazolin detection in real samples.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of nanocomposite probes incorporating TiO2, graphene quantum dots, and MIP.
• Utilizing fluorescence quenching mechanism for cefazolin detection.
• Characterization of the optosensor's linearity, limit of detection, imprinting factor, and selectivity.
• Validation of the optosensor in milk samples and comparison with HPLC analysis.

Main Results:

• The optosensor demonstrated high sensitivity with a limit of detection of 0.10 μg L⁻¹ for cefazolin.
• Excellent linearity was observed for cefazolin concentrations from 0.10 to 10.0 μg L⁻¹.
• The sensor exhibited high selectivity for cefazolin, unaffected by structurally similar compounds.
• Successful detection of cefazolin in milk with high recovery rates (85.0–97.4%) and low RSDs (<5.0%).

Conclusions:

• The developed nano-optosensor provides a rapid, sensitive, and selective method for trace cefazolin detection.
• The nanocomposite probe strategy is effective and adaptable for detecting other toxic compounds.
• The results align well with traditional HPLC analysis, indicating the reliability of the optosensor.