Electrospun nanofiber-based platforms for mycotoxins sensing: Recent advances and future directions

Area of Science:

• Food safety and analytical chemistry
• Nanomaterials and sensor technology
• Mycotoxin analysis

Background:

• Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites contaminating food and feed, necessitating rapid and sensitive detection methods.
• Electrospun nanofibers (ESNFs) provide a high surface area and tunable properties, making them suitable for advanced sensing platforms.
• Current detection methods require improvement in sensitivity and speed to ensure global food safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in electrospun nanofiber (ESNF)-based sensing techniques for mycotoxin detection.
• To evaluate the performance of ESNF systems across electrochemical, optical, and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) platforms.
• To highlight the potential of ESNFs for both direct sensing and extraction-followed-by-sensing of mycotoxins.

Main Methods:

• Review of literature on ESNF-based sensing platforms for mycotoxins.
• Assessment of electrochemical, optical, and QCM sensing techniques utilizing ESNFs.
• Evaluation of sensor performance using parameters like limit of detection (LOD), linear detection range, response time, reproducibility, and reusability.

Main Results:

• ESNF systems demonstrate significant potential for sensitive and rapid mycotoxin detection.
• Electrochemical aptasensors based on Ti3C2Tx MXene/PVDF nanocomposites achieved an ultra-low LOD of 2.15 × 10^-6 ng mL^-1 for Ochratoxin A.
• ESNF-based extraction coupled with sensing offers a promising approach for complex sample matrices.

Conclusions:

• ESNFs represent a versatile and effective platform for developing advanced mycotoxin sensors.
• The reviewed ESNF-based platforms show promise for enhancing food safety through improved mycotoxin monitoring.
• Further research into ESNF functionalization and integration with various transduction mechanisms can lead to next-generation analytical tools.