Electrochemical sensor based on in-situ acetylene black template growth ZIF-8 for trace catechin detection

An electrochemical sensing platform based on in-situ acetylene black (AB) template growth ZIF-8 for trace catechin detection in green tea was proposed. Here, the ZIF-8/AB/carbon paper (CP) electrode was constructed by two-step in-situ growth method and hydrothermal method. The characterization showed that AB molecule was well distributed in ZIF-8 pore with large surface area. ZIF-8/AB/CP electrode showed good electrochemical performance for catechin detection, which benefited from the ZIF-8 with larger surface and AB with excellent conductivity. The results showed that ZIF-8/AB/CP electrode was linear in the range of 0.01–200 µM, and the low detection limit for catechin detection was 43.7 nM. ZIF-8/AB/CP also had good reproducibility, anti-interference ability and stability. In addition, the sensor achieved hight-recovery and accuracy in detecting catechin in green tea. As far as we know, our work first reported that ZIF-8/AB composite was synthesized by in-situ growth method as an electrochemical sensing material for the detection of catechin in green tea, which will provide some theoretical analysis and experimental experience for designing and developing electrochemical sensor for the analysis of trace catechin.