One-step electrodeposition of a novel gold nanoparticles/MoS2-graphene nanocomposite based electrochemical sensor for simultaneous determination of tert-butylhydroquinone and butylated hydroxyanisole

The study developed a novel electrochemical sensor based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)/MoS2-graphene nanocomposite for simultaneous determination of tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). Herein, AuNPs were in situ grown onto the MoS2-graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite modified electrode by a simple electrodeposition. Meanwhile, the GO was reduced to the higher conductive reduced graphene oxide (RGO) during the electrochemistry process. The prepared AuNPs/MoS2-RGO nanocomposite not only increased the active electrochemical surface area but also improved the current response towards TBHQ and BHA, which exhibited highly sensitive and selective for simultaneous determination of TBHQ and BHA. The proposed sensor showed excellent responses towards TBHQ and BHA in a wide linear range from 1 to 500 μmol·L−1, as well as detection limits of 0.30 μmol·L−1 for TBHQ and 0.25 μmol·L−1 for BHA, respectively. In addition, the sensor was successfully applied for the determination of TBHQ and BHA in different food samples, giving satisfactory recoveries.