Construction of colorimetric sensor arrays using steel slag-based composites for highly sensitive detection of tetracycline antibiotics

Sensor array methods have received much attention in recent years. In this study, a colorimetric sensor array consisting of three kinds of steel slag-based composites (including porphyrin-functionalized non-magnetic steel slag (NMSS-Por), alkali-excited steel slag (A-SS), and platinum modified steel slag (ALANH-Pt)) was developed for the detection and recognition of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) such as tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC) and doxycycline (DOX). Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) showed that the colorimetric sensor array has excellent recognition ability for TCs. The detection limits of this sensor array for TC, OTC, and DOX were 0.059 μM, 0.111 μM and 0.118 μM, respectively, which provided higher sensitivity compared to the colorimetric sensors composed of a single steel slag-based composite material. At the same time, the array sensor has anti-interference ability, and this study provides a new application route for steel slag.