Determination of synthetic antioxidant tert-butylhydroquinone in food matrices using a DyVO4/SnO2/graphene oxide-based sensor.

The widespread incorporation of tert-Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) in food matrices necessitates the development of highly selective and ultrasensitive analytical platforms. Therefore, constructing synergistic heterointerfaces provides a pivotal means of driving next-generation electrochemical sensing technologies. In this work, a hierarchical DyVO4/SnO2/GO ternary nanocomposite has been developed and integrated onto GCE for ultrasensitive TBHQ detection. Structural analyses confirmed tetragonal DyVO4 and SnO2 phases uniformly anchored on graphene oxide (GO), forming defect-rich heterostructures with strong interfacial coupling. DyVO4/SnO2/GO architecture significantly improved charge transport, reducing charge-transfer resistance from 581.4 to 139.19 Ω·cm2 and higher the electroactive surface area to 0.16 cm2. In addition, DPV revealed a linear range (0.01-278 μM), and a detection limit of 0.82 nM. Furthermore, it shows good selectivity, reproducibility, and long-term cyclic stability have been achieved. Importantly, real-sample analysis in noodles, chips, tap water and river water, samples yielded satisfactory recoveries ranging from ±96.5-99.5% with RSD values below 0.005-1.82%, validating its practical applicability. Therefore, the proposed DyVO4/SnO2/GO ternary nanocomposite demonstrates excellent sensitivity, stability, and reproducibility, and highlights its potential as a powerful platform for next-generation environment and food safety monitoring.