A novel ternary nanocomposite based electrochemical sensor coupled with regularized neural network for nanomolar detection of sunset yellow FCF

Synthetic dyes are extensively used worldwide although they instigate adverse environmental and health issues at higher concentrations. A reliable and ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for nanomolar determination of common food colorant sunset yellow FCF is reported in this paper. The electrochemical sensor was integrated with a regularized neural network to enable intelligent sensing of this azo dye. The sensor was fabricated using a ternary nanocomposite based on silver doped spinel Co ₃O ₄ nanorods embedded functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (fCNTs). Co-precipitation method was employed for synthesis of porous Co ₃O ₄ nanorods and CNTs were functionalized using acid-treatment approach. Electrochemical investigations based on cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry techniques revealed stupendous electrocatalytic performance towards sunset yellow detection. A nanomolar detection limit of 0.8 nM and high sensitivity of 8.79 μA μM ⁻¹ cm ⁻² was exhibited by the developed sensor and real sample analysis experiment was conducted in commercial beverages to validate its practical feasibility.