Simultaneous Voltammetric Determination of Synthetic Colorants in Foods Using a Magnetic Core-Shell Fe3O4@SiO2/MWCNTs Nanocomposite Modified Carbon Paste Electrode

This paper reports the production of a novel magnetic nanocomposite based on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorated with magnetic core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles which were used to fabricate a modified carbon paste electrode (Fe3O4@SiO2/MWCNT-CPE). The Fe3O4@SiO2/MWCNT-CPE was investigated for the simultaneous determination of sunset yellow (SY) and tartrazine (TT) in 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.0) using square wave voltammetry (SWV). The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The proposed electrode exhibits linear ranges of 0.5-100 mu mol/L SY and TT with detection limits of 0.05 and 0.04 mu mol/L for SY and TT, respectively. The novel proposed voltammetric method was successfully applied in the simultaneous determination of SY and TT in food products, with results similar to those obtained using a HPLC method at 95 % confidence level.