Tert-Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is a phenolic antioxidant commonly found in edible oils. However, excessive amounts of TBHQ can adversely affect food quality due to its toxic and mutagenic effects, which may cause human injury and present carcinogenic risks. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a sensitive and accurate analytical method for the rapid detection of TBHQ. In this work, hierarchical flower-structured spherical SnIn₄S₈ and pyramidal Bi₂O₃ were combined to obtain the Z-scheme SnIn₄S₈/Bi₂O₃ heterojunction. Under irradiation, the electron transport channel of this heterojunction facilitated the combination of electrons in the conduction band of Bi₂O₃ with holes in the valence band of SnIn₄S₈, which decreased the recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and improved the photoelectric response. After the addition of TBHQ, the adsorption effect on the electrode surface and the oxidation reaction with holes in the valence band of Bi₂O₃ further promoted the charge transfer and separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, which led to a rapid increase in the photocurrent to realize the detection of TBHQ in environmental and food samples. The increase in photocurrent has been linearly correlated with the logarithm of the concentration of TBHQ in the range of 1.00–500 μM with a limit of detection of 0.526 μM. Furthermore, the sensor showed excellent selectivity in the presence of a wide range of analogs. This study provides a novel scheme for the precise detection of TBHQ and the construction of high-performance photoelectrochemical Z-scheme heterojunctions.

中文翻译：

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一种基于 SnIn4S8 多级微球纳米花组装 Bi2O3 金字塔的 Z 型异质结电子传递通道的高选择性检测叔丁基对苯二酚的光电化学传感器


叔丁基对苯二酚 （TBHQ） 是一种常见于食用油中的酚类抗氧化剂。然而，过量的 TBHQ 会因其毒性和致突变作用而对食品质量产生不利影响，可能导致人类受伤并存在致癌风险。因此，迫切需要开发一种灵敏准确的分析方法来快速检测 TBHQ。在这项工作中，分层花结构的球形 SnIn₄S₈ 和金字塔形 Bi₂O₃ 相结合，得到 Z 型 SnIn₄S₈/Bi₂O₃ 异质结。在辐照下，该异质结的电子传输通道促进了 Bi₂O₃ 导带中的电子与 SnIn₄S₈ 价带上的空穴结合，从而降低了光生电子的复合速率并提高了光电响应。TBHQ 加入后，对电极表面的吸附作用和与 Bi₂O₃ 价带空穴的氧化反应进一步促进了光生电子和空穴的电荷转移和分离，导致光电流迅速增加，实现了环境和食品样品中 TBHQ 的检测。光电流的增加与 TBHQ 浓度在 1.00–500 μM 范围内的对数呈线性相关，检测限为 0.526 μM。此外，该传感器在存在各种类似物的情况下表现出优异的选择性。本研究为TBHQ的精确检测和高性能光电化学Z型异质结的构建提供了一种新的方案。