A simple and rapid approach for on-site analysis of nicotine in tobacco based on a screen-printed electrode as an electrochemical sensor

• Published in: Analytical methods 2022-04, Vol.14 (16), p.1579-1584
• Main Authors: Sha, Yunfei, Yu, Jie, Xiong, Junwei, Yu, Chaofan, Zhu, Xiaoyu, Zhang, Bingqian, Fei, Ting, Wu, Da
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetic acid; Buffer solutions; Chemical sensors; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Feasibility; Flame ionization; Gas chromatography; Ionization; Limit of Detection; Nicotine; Nicotine - analysis; Portability; Selectivity; Tobacco; Tobacco Products; Transmission efficiency; Workstations
• ISSN: 1759-9660; 1759-9679; 1759-9679
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ay00058j

In this study, we report a portable kit consisting of a portable workstation, gold screen-printed electrode (SPE), 0.45 μm filter membrane, phosphate buffer solution (PBS), and acetic acid (1%) for point-of-use (POU) analysis of nicotine in tobacco. The activated-screen-printed electrode (A-SPE) displayed superior electron transmission efficiency, and the A-SPE without modification was employed for high-performance analysis of nicotine in actual tobacco after simple sample pretreatment. Remarkably, the fabricated nicotine sensor exhibited a broad working range of 10-100 μg g −1 , a low limit of detection (LOD) of 6.4 μg mL −1 , good stability, selectivity, and practicality under the optimal conditions. The method was applied to the determination of nicotine in (spiked) samples. Satisfactory recovery results demonstrated that the as-prepared portable kit method with outstanding electrocatalysis ability was feasible for analysis of nicotine in tobacco. Moreover, the values obtained using the A-SPE were in good agreement with those determined by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID), which confirms the feasibility and validity of the present method. The results of the as-proposed portable kit provided a new strategy for analyzing nicotine in actual tobacco samples. In this study, we report a portable kit consisting of a portable workstation, gold screen-printed electrode (SPE), 0.45 μm filter membrane, phosphate buffer solution (PBS), and acetic acid (1%) for point-of-use (POU) analysis of nicotine in tobacco.