ZnZrO2-adorned graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) on a laser-induced graphene electrode as an electrochemical sensor for the detection of ractopamine in meat samples

Abstract

Ractopamine (RA) is a phenolic substance widely used as an animal food additive. However, excessive RA use can have adverse effects on human health. Therefore, the development of a sensor for accurate RA detection is crucial. In this study, a flexible and economical laser-induced graphene (LIG) sensor was fabricated by uniformly drop casting ZnZrO₂@g-C₃N₄ NPs on the LIG surface. Further, the fabricated electrochemical sensor was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), HR-SEM with EDS, HR-TEM, BET and EIS analytical techniques. Owing to the good synergistic effect of ZnZrO₂@g-C₃N₄ and LIG, the ZnZrO₂@g-C₃N₄/LIG electrochemical sensor exhibits brilliant RA sensitivity and rapid sensing with excellent linearity (0.01–0.15 μM), low limit of detection (0.1537 μM), high sensitivity of 0.3748 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻², and outstanding repeatability. The sensor successfully detected RA in real samples with recoveries ranging from 96.8–103%. This study introduces a new RA detection approach that uses LIG-metal and metal oxides in electrochemical sensing.