Sensitive determination of Amaranth in foods using graphene nanomeshes

Abstract In this paper, a new electrochemical sensor used for the determination of Amaranth in foods was reported, where a kind of porous graphene material-graphene nanomeshes (GNM) was employed as electrode modifying materials. The introduction of large pore density to the graphene sheets not only can in favor of more Amaranth molecules adsorbed to the surface of the working electrode through the pores, but also may benefit fast electron diffusion in the electrochemical detection process. So the GNM modified electrode enhanced its electrochemical signal obviously in the determination of Amaranth in foods and exhibited a wider linear response ranging from 5.0 × 10 − 9 to 1.0 × 10 − 6  M with a low detection limit of 7.0 × 10 − 10  M at a signal to noise ratio of 3. This work offers a new route in developing new electrochemical sensors for the determination of colorants additives and other hazard components in foods.