Highly sensitive electrochemical determination of sunset yellow in commercial food products based on CHIT/GO/MWCNTs/AuNPs/GCE

- A simple and sensitive electrochemical sensor developed by GO/MWCNTs/AuNPs/CHIT/GCE.
- The developed method detected from 10 to 90 mg mL−1 of Sunset Yellow (SY).
- Within 10 s able to detect the presence of SY in candy, jelly and soft drinks.
- Accepted recovery values found from 96.38 to 102.76 %.

Sunset yellow (SY) belongs to the azo group, commonly used in food industry. Highly consumption of SY may lead toxicity and photogenic to human health. Herein, a simple and highly sensitive electrochemical sensor was developed based on the modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with graphene (GO), multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and nanocomposite membrane of chitosan (CHIT) for quantifying the level of SY in commercial food products. The CHIT/GO/MWCNTs/AuNPs were coated onto the GCE surface and analysed by using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The surfaces of CHIT/GO/MWCNTs/AuNPs/GCE characteristics were observed under scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscope. Under optimal condition, the DPV method was sensitively detected with different concentrations of SY from 10 to 90 mg mL−1. The limits of detection and quantification were obtained to be 0.032 mg mL−1 and 0.096 mg mL−1, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to quantify the amount of SY in candy, jelly and soft drinks with good recovery values from 98.11% to 104.03%. Hence, the proposed sensor shows a rapid and sensitive method, low cost and simple, which an appropriate for alternative technique use for the analysis of food colorants in commercial products.