Synergistic enhancement in electrochemical detection of chlorogenic acid using the accordion-like N-doped carbon nanoplate supported NiFe2O4 nanocomposite.

Chlorogenic acid (CGA), a core antioxidant in functional foods, requires accurate and rapid monitoring to ensure food quality, safety and production standardization, which is the practical and theoretical basis for developing its dedicated sensor. Unlike traditional HPLC (complex preprocessing, high cost, time-consuming), this study synthesized a NiFe2O4/A-CN composite by pyrolyzing a two-dimensional zeolite imidazole framework to obtain accordion-like N-doped carbon (A-CN), followed by ultrasonic loading of hydrothermally prepared NiFe2O4 nanoparticles. The composite combines A-CN's conductive framework with NiFe2O4's electroactive sites, creating a synergistic interface that efficiently adsorbs and detects CGA. The resulting electrochemical sensor shows a wide linear range (5 × 10-10-2 × 10-6 M), ultra-low detection limit (1.0 × 10-11 M), excellent recovery (98.9-102.2%) in actual food samples (yellow peaches, lemons, Tangerines), validated by UV-Vis, offering a faster, more cost-effective alternative for rapid and precise CGA detection in foods.