MoS₂ quantum dots and titanium carbide co-modified carbon nanotube heterostructure as electrode for highly sensitive...

A novel electrochemical sensor has been fabricated for sensitive determination of zearalenone (ZEA) in food samples based on molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS₂ QDs) and two-dimensional titanium carbide (2D-Ti₃C₂T_x MXene) co-modified multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) heterostructure. Physical and electrochemical characterizations reveal that 2D-Ti₃C₂T_x and MoS₂ QDs co-modified MWCNTs yields synergistic signal amplification effect, together with large specific surface area and excellent conductivity for the heterostructure, endowing the developed sensor with high detection performance to ZEA. Under optimized conditions, the sensor shows a wide linear range from 3.00 to 300 ng mL^-1 and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.32 ng mL^-1_, which is far lower than the maximum residue limits (MRLs) settled by the European Commission. In addition, it exhibits excellent selectivity, high reproducibility with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.1%, and good repeatability (RSD 1.1%). In real sample analysis recoveries ranged from 94.8 to 105% showing the proposed electrochemical sensor has high potential in practical applications. This work presents an effective and valuable pathway for the use of novel heterostructure in the biosensing field.