Novel electrochemical sensor based on NiZnFe2O4/CPE for measurement of p-coumaric acid in honey

One of the most abundant phenolic acids in honey is p-coumaric acid (pCA), which can be used to identify natural honey from synthetic honey. In this research, a simple, sensitive, and fast method using a modified electrode was developed to determine pCA in honey samples. A carbon paste electrode modified with NiZnFe2O4 nanospinels (NiZnFe2O4/CPE) was used to measure pCA in aqueous samples using Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV). NiZnFe2O4 nanospinels were synthesized by the sol-gel method and were characterized by different methods. pCA oxidation peak currents from DPV showed linearity in the range of 1.60–250 μM with a detection limit of 0.48 μM. Repeatability and reproducibility of the developed method and electrode showed a relative standard deviation lower than 0.95%. The developed method based on NiZnFe2O4/CPE kept performance after over 16 days. Satisfactory result for selectivity in the presence of some interference species is an advantage of the developed method. Finally, NiZnFe2O4/CPE was successfully used for the determination of pCA in two honey samples. The pCA values were calculated from the standard addition method and they were 3.41 × 10-5 and 1.70 × 10-5 M, respectively. These results were confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detector.