Development of an Ionic Liquid based-Fe₃O₄/Gr Nanocomposite for Sensitive Electrochemical Sensing and Monitoring of Vanillin in Food Products

Rapid electrochemical strategy-based sensor fabricated for measuring vanillin as an important additive compound in the food industry by combining iron oxide/graphene (Fe₃O₄/Gr) nanocomposite as a catalyst and 1-butyl-3-ethyl imidazolium chloride (1B3EICl) as an ionic liquid binder to make a modified carbon paste electrode (Fe₃O₄/Gr/1B3EICl/CPE). For optimization of the proposed sensor, some electrochemical parameters such as pH, scan rate, the ratio of Fe₃O₄/Gr, and 1B3EICl in the sensor matrix were investigated by differential pulse voltammetric method. The obtained results showed a wide dynamic range between 1.0 nM and 220 µM and detection limit of 0.5 nM to monitor vanillin using electrochemical signals. Finally, Fe₃O₄/Gr/1B3EICl/CPE was employed for analysis of real food samples and statistical analyses confirmed the efficiency of Fe₃O₄/Gr/1B3EICl/CPE for the determination of vanillin in real situations.