Electrochemical Detection of Antioxidants Using a Pyrolyzed-ZIF-67 Nanoporous Carbon Composite-Based Sensor

Accurate and sensitive detection of synthetic antioxidants in consumer products is crucial for safeguarding human health. Herein, an electrochemical sensor was constructed by the pyrolysis of ZIF-67 at 900 °C (denoted as ZIF-67-C(900)) for electrochemical detection of the antioxidants. Characterizations revealed the formation of a nanoporous carbon composite featuring a well-defined mesoporous carbon with uniformly distributed cobalt nanoparticles. When applied to the detecting the antioxidants of tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), the proposed sensor exhibited well-defined linear ranges from 0.14 to 12.04 μmol/L for TBHQ and 0.04 to 12.04 μmol/L for BHA, with corresponding low detection limits of 44.90 and 9.76 nmol/L, respectively; moreover, the modified electrode demonstrated excellent reproducibility and repeatability, which should be attributed to the unique feature of nanoporous carbon composite of pyrolyzed-ZIF-67-C(900). This work expands the potential of metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived nanoporous composites in electrochemical detection of antioxidants and also provides a facile approach for constructing high-performance electrochemical sensors for detecting antioxidants in consumer products.