Detection of Chloramphenicol in milk and honey by electrochemical sensors based on iron, cobalt, and nickel trimetals/carbon nanosheets

In this paper, we designed and synthesized nitrogen, iron, cobalt and nickel trimetallic loaded carbon nanosheets to detect chloramphenicol (CAP). Melamine was used as the carbon source and cobalt acetate tetrahydrate, nickel nitrate hexahydrate and potassium iron oxalate as the metal sources. Under hydrothermal reaction, melamine reacted with cobalt acetate tetrahydrate and nickel nitrate hexahydrate to form melamine cobalt-nickel complex, and then under high temperature calcination, the carbon nanosheets were carbonized, the metal ions were reduced to metal nanoparticles, and at the same time iron and nitrogen were co-doped, and finally, a new type of metal nanomaterials with three-metal (Fe, Co, Ni) loaded carbon nanosheets was obtained. The electrochemical detection results showed that Co Ni Fe NPs@CNS showed good electrocatalytic performance for CAP, exhibiting a wide detection range (0.1 µM-1000 µM), low detection limit (0.008 µM) and high sensitivity (0.3342 µA/µM). The recovery rate range for honey samples is 97.20%-101.87%, the recovery rate range for milk samples is 96.9%-102.60%. It can be used for the detection of actual samples with strong anti-interference ability. The electrocatalyst we studied has significant advantages in food detection due to its low detection limit, low cost, and good selectivity, and it demonstrates broad application prospects in the field of food analysis and detection. • Novel iron, cobalt, nickel trimetallic loaded carbon nanosheets. • High surface area, stability, proton transport and electrocatalytic activity. • Simple, economical and novel preparation process with excellent material performance. • High electrochemical sensing performance for chloramphenicol. • Realize the actual sample detection of antibiotics in food.