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The excessive use of nitrofurantoin (NFT) represents a threat to ecosystems and food safety, making it necessary to develop efficient and accurate detection methods. Herein, the Ru/NiFe-LDH-MXene/SPCE electrode was successfully synthesized by one-step electrodeposition and employed to the NFT electrochemical sensing. Combining 2D MXenes with multifunctional 2D layered double hydroxides (LDHs) creates synergistic interactions within the MXene-LDH heterostructures, modifying the electrochemical performance. Furthermore, the incorporation of noble metal nanoparticles and nanoclusters can significantly enhance electrochemical performance by promoting favorable interactions at the metal-carrier interface and optimizing the rearrangement of electronic structure. Based on this, the developed Ru/NiFe-LDH-MXene/SPCE sensor demonstrates remarkable sensitivity (152.44 μA μM -1  cm -2 ) and an ultralow detection limit (2.2 nM). Notably, the sensor was employed for NFT detection in food samples with satisfactory recoveries, making it a promising electrochemical sensor for the detection of NFT., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Food packaging is innovating towards more environmental-friendly polymers and broader applications of bioactive compounds. In this study, active packaging materials were successfully prepared by incorporating chlorogenic acid (CGA) nanoparticles into pullulan/gelatin polymer matrixes. The rhamnolipid (RL) and/or CGA were combined with chitosan (CS) to synthesize active nanoparticles by the ionic crosslinking method. The film containing CS/RL/CGA nanoparticles (F/CRC) exhibited both ultrahigh visible light (400-760 nm) transmittance (approximately 90%) and UVA (320-400 nm)-blocking efficiency (89.06%). Its fluorescent properties can be used for anti-counterfeiting. Significantly, the bacterial inhibition rates of F/CRC against E. coli and S. aureus were 92.14% and 98.72%. F/CRC also showed good antioxidant capability and biosafety. Finally, the packaging test further indicated that F/CRC could delay the browning of bananas and the bacteria growth of chicken samples. This work presents a green and feasible route to produce functional materials with UV-shielding properties for packaging applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Designing efficient and sensitive methods for the detection of nitrofurantoin (NFT) residues is of great importance for food safety and environmental protection. Herein, a composite with cobalt nanoparticles encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube (N/Co@CNTs@CC-II) was synthesized by in-situ growth and sublimation-gas phase transformation strategy and used to establish an ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for NFT determination. The N/Co@CNTs@CC-II sensor exhibits uniform N doping, fine hollow structure, and abundant active metal sites, which lays a solid foundation for the ultra-sensitive detection of NFT. Benefiting from these advantages, the N/Co@CNTs@CC-II exhibits excellent sensitivity (8.19 μA μM -1  cm -2 ) and low detection limit (18.41 nM) for NFT detection. The practical feasibility of N/Co@CNTs@CC-II was also demonstrated by the determination of NFT in milk and tap water samples. This study may open up new opportunities for the application of N-doped carbon nanotube materials encapsulating transition metals., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Considering the importance of rapid and effective detection of nitrite in food samples, herein, we report a multistep heterophase synthetic strategy for constructing crystalline-amorphous zinc/cobalt iron porous nanosheets (C-A Zn/Co-Fe PNSs) on carbon cloth. Notably, the C-A Zn/Co-Fe PNSs@CC electrochemical interface consists of interlaced carbon fibers with many uniformly distributed hybrid nanosheets containing crystalline-amorphous interfacial sites. This particular hybrid structure permits local enrichment of nitrite for enhanced nitrite capture efficiency, laying a solid foundation for the ultrasensitive detection of nitrite. In proof-of-concept experiments, we verified that C-A Zn/Co-Fe PNSs@CC could be used to analyze nitrite with good sensitivity and reproducibility. It is worth mentioning that an ultra-low LOD of 0.44 μM was obtained for the detection of nitrite. The designed electrochemical sensor worked well in complex samples such as sausages and tap water under optimal parameters., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A new ratiometric platform was developed for sensing Hg 2+ , which combined fluorescence and scattering simultaneously. This ratiometric strategy reflected superiorities over conventional methods, since the two independent signals at irrelevant categories meet the requirements of sufficient wavelength separation, stimulation under one excitation, and collection on single instrument. Herein, nonconjugated polymer dots (N-PDs) were served as the recognition unit for Hg 2+ with turn-off fluorescence and turn-on scattering. Additionally, two signal collection tactics were proposed to achieve fluorescence and scattering in a window: one was to record down-conversion fluorescence and second-order scattering spectra (FL@SOS), and the other was to gather the fluorescence excited by second-order diffraction light and first-order scattering (SODL-FL@FOS). This ratiometric sensor exhibited outstanding performance toward Hg 2+ in the range of 0.1-50 μM with the detection limit of 27 nM. By contrast, the present proposal provided a more ingenious and scalable way to construct ratiometric sensor than traditional approach., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Considering excess nitrites are detrimental to the human body and environment, designing a rapid, sensitive, and real-time quantitative determination for nitrite is of great significance for environmental preservation and public health. In this paper, Co 3 O 4 nanoflowers coupled with ultrafine MoO 3 nanoparticles (MoO 3 /Co 3 O 4 ) are obtained via a hybrid electrochemical deposition strategy (HED). The as-designed MoO 3 /Co 3 O 4 /CC integrating electrode exhibits superior electrocatalytic properties towards nitrite oxidation, owing to the synergistic effect between MoO 3 and Co 3 O 4 caused by the heterostructure of MoO 3 /Co 3 O 4 . The electrode achieved a low response time of 2 s, an excellent sensitivity of 1704.1 μA mM -1 cm -2 , and a low limit of detection of 0.075 μM (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the electrode displays promise for nitrite detection in complex food such as water and sausages samples. Our study will provide a significant strategy for the application of bimetallic heterostructure to explore the design of sensing interfaces., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Large uptakes of nitrite have been proven to be detrimental to human health, therefore, the development of high-performance nitrite sensors is highly emergent. Herein, a carbon selenide nanofilms modified carbon fiber cloth (CSe 2 NF/CC) electrode was obtained via in-situ synthesis to detect nitrite. The electrode integrates the collective merits of macroporous CC and pleated carbon selenide nanofilms, possessing a low overpotential of 0.83 V, a high electrochemical active surface area (EASA) of 5.39 cm 2 , great electrical conductivity, and fast charge transport as well as ion diffusion. The proposed electrode achieved a low limit of detection of 0.04 μmol L -1 (S/N = 3), a high sensitivity of 2048.56 μA mmol L -1  cm -2 , excellent selectivity, and long-term stability. Additionally, the CSe 2 NF/CC was successfully used for nitrite detection in different food samples such as pickled vegetables and sausage samples., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Various pesticides employed in modern agriculture result in large amounts of pesticide residues in agricultural production, greatly threatening human health. Herein, we report a facile approach to fabricate a reduced graphene oxide/cyclodextrin modified glassy carbon electrode (rGO/CD/GCE) for the sensitive electrochemical sensing of imidacloprid (IDP). Three different modified electrodes using CDs (α-, β-, γ-CD) were fabricated, and their electrochemical performance was further studied. The results demonstrate that α-CD possesses the best signal amplification for IDP. Compared with wet-chemical synthesis of rGO/CDs (W-rGO/CDs), the electrochemical synthesis of rGO/CDs (E-rGO/CDs) produced sensors that showed better performance for IDP sensing. Taking advantage of prepared E-rGO/α-CD nanocomposite, the fabricated sensor offered a low detection limit (0.02 μM) with a wider linear range (0.5-40 μM) and long-term stability. The new sensor was successfully applied for the detection of IDP in brown rice, providing a new technique for efficient and convenient monitoring of pesticide residues in food., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)