Fe3O4 Nanorods-RGO-ionic Liquid Nanocomposite Based Electrochemical Sensor for Aflatoxin B1 in Ground Paprika

A novel and sensitive method for the determination of aflatoxin B1 (AFA−B1) in ground paprika using a methyltrioctylammonium chloride ionic liquid (IL), iron oxide nanorods (Fe₃O₄ nanorods) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) fabricated glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was developed. The synthesized nanoparticles, nanocomposites and modified electrode surfaces were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DSC) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Moreover, the electrochemical performance of the developed sensor was determined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The obtained results demonstrate that the sensitivity of AFA−B1 is significantly enhanced on RGO-Fe₃O₄ nanorods-IL-GCE in comparison with bare GCE, RGO-GCE and RGO-Fe₃O₄ nanorods-GCE. The redox peak currents of AFA−B1 exhibited good linear relationship with its concentration in the range from 0.02 to 0.33 ng mL⁻¹ with detection limit of (LOD) 0.03 ng mL⁻¹ and limit of quantification (LOQ) 0.36 ng mL⁻¹ respectively (S/N=3). In addition, the fabricated electrode showed good stability and reproducibility. The proposed technique was effectively applied to identify the AFA−B1 in real ground paprika samples with acceptable results.