ZnO Nanoparticle Modified Carbon Paste Electrode as a Sensor for Electrochemical Determination of Tert-Butylhydroquinone in Food Samples

A fast response voltammetric sensor based on ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO/NPs) carbon paste electrode (ZnO/NPs/CPE) is suggested for the determination of tertbutylhydroquinone in the aqueous buffer solution. ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by direct chemical precipitation method and characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. In the second step, application of the ZnO/NPs for the preparation of modified carbon paste electrode was investigated. At the optimum condition (pH 7.0), the oxidation signals of tertbutylhydroquinone increased linearly with its concentration in the ranges of 1.0–750 μM. The detection limit for tert-butylhydroquinone was 0.7 μM. The ZnO/NPs/CPE was used for the determination of tert-butylhydroquinone in food samples such as sesame and soybean oil.