Enhancement of voltammetric determination of quinizarine based on the adsorption at surfactant-adsorbed-layer in disposable electrodes

•Surfactant-adsorbed-layer in disposable electrodes as antifouling ability.•Surfactant-adsorbed-layer: a simple approach to improve electroanalysis of dye marker.•Cationic surfactant enables minimizing matrix effects of commercial fuel.

Screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) surface was easily altered through spontaneous hydrophobic interactions with cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) to form a surfactant-adsorbed-layer. This finding combined the practicality of the SPCE with the CTAB’s anti-fouling ability and preconcentration properties as a suitable alternative to determine the quinizarine in fuel samples using the square-wave voltammetric technique. Under optimized experimental conditions the electroanalytical method presented a linear response from 5.00 × 10−7 to 6.00 × 10−6 mol L−1 (r = 0.998) with a detection limit of 2.70 × 10−7 mol L−1. The methodology was successfully applied in the dye marker quantification in diesel oil and kerosene samples, without matrix interference, with recoveries values highly satisfactory and ranged between 84.0% and 98.7%.