The creation of selective imprinted cavities on quartz crystal microbalance electrode for the detection of melamine in milk sample

Abstract Molecularly imprinted polymer based nanofilms specific to melamine were synthesized on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode surface. Contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterizations process. Some of the findings of the study are as follows: pH 6.0 was found as optimal working pH for melamine detection. Prepared MIP QCM electrode showed a linearity of 99.53% in the concentration range of 50-1000 ng/mL. Langmuir-Freundlich hybrid model was the best fitted isotherm for whole concentration range. The performance of MIP QCM electrode was also confirmed by determining of melamine in melamine spiked milk samples. As a conclusion, the results figured out that not only QCM nanosensor for specific melamine detection but also polymerization strategy were classified as an intriguing alternative for developing new melamine sensing platforms. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were calculated as 2.3 ng/mL and 7.8 ng/mL, respectively.