Highly Sensitive Oxytetracycline Detection Using QCM and Molecularly Imprinted Polymers with Deep Eutectic Solvents

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Oxytetracycline (OTC) is a widely used antibiotic with significant implications for environmental monitoring and food safety.
• Accurate and sensitive detection methods for OTC are crucial to mitigate risks associated with its presence in ecosystems and food products.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient and highly sensitive detection platform for oxytetracycline hydrochloride.
• To create a stable and reliable sensor for real-world applications in environmental and food safety testing.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using silica as a carrier and deep eutectic solvents (DES) as functional monomers.
• Modification of MIPs onto a gold electrode surface and integration with a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor.
• Characterization of MIPs' adsorption capacity and the QCM sensor's detection performance and stability.

Main Results:

• The developed MIPs demonstrated a high adsorption capacity of 27.23 mg/g for oxytetracycline hydrochloride.
• The QCM-based sensor achieved an ultra-low detection limit of 0.019 ng/mL for oxytetracycline.
• The sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity in tap water and maintained over 90% performance after two weeks of storage.

Conclusions:

• The study successfully presents a rapid, highly sensitive, and stable sensor for oxytetracycline detection.
• This method holds significant potential for widespread application in environmental monitoring and antibiotic testing in food safety.
• The integration of MIPs, DES, and QCM offers a promising approach for developing advanced analytical platforms.