Cobalt doped nitrogenous porous carbon derived from covalent organic framework as cataluminescence catalyst for rapid determination of n-hexane in edible oil

In this work, a catalytic material of cobalt doped nitrogenous porous carbon (Co/NPC) was fabricated from covalent organic frameworks (COFs) and cobalt ion via directly carbonization. Attribute to the excellent selective catalytic performance towards n-hexane, Co/NPC was employed in cataluminescence (CTL) for rapid and sensitive determination of n-hexane. Moreover, the detection conditions of CTL were evaluated, including temperature, flow rate and detecting wavelength. Under optimized conditions, a good linear relation between signal intensity of CTL and n-hexane concentration was obtained in the linear range of 0.4–250.0 mg/L and the limit of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) was 0.13 mg/L. Furthermore, the Co/NPC based CTL sensor was successfully applied to the determination of n-hexane in edible oil samples with the recoveries in the range of 92.0%–104.0%. The method comparison results of GC/MS and CTL on real sample analysis further proved the accuracy of the developed Co/NPC based CTL method. Additionally, the possible catalytic mechanism of n-hexane on the surface of Co/NPC was investigated, assisting by GC/MS on intermediation products identification. Overall, the Co/NPC based CTL sensor has been confirmed excellent performance in the n-hexane determination, which revealing extensive application in rapid residual n-hexane analysis in edible oil.