A piezoelectric magnetic molecularly imprinted surface sensor for the detection of Sudan I

•Fabricated a novel piezoelectric surface sensor for the detection of Sudan I.•We used the magnetic molecular surface imprinting technique for this purpose.•This sensor has excellent sensitivity, response time, and reusability.

Magnetic nanoparticles that act as carriers of magnetic molecularly imprinted surface polymers (MMISPs) have been harnessed to produce a magnetic molecularly imprinted, piezoelectric surface sensor for the detection of Sudan I. The MMISP was characterized by ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy as well as transmission electron microscopy. Test results show that this MMISP-modified piezoelectric sensor was effective at detecting Sudan I, with the sensor displaying perfect selectivity and high sensitivity, with a detection limit of 2 μg/L, and response time of 3.5 s. The reproducibility of the sensor was satisfactory due to P > 0.05, indicating that there is no statistical difference between the data obtained by the intra- and inter-batch methods. When applied to a real example, recovery testing indicated that the sensor effectively detected Sudan I in pepper.