Ti3C2Tx-AgNPs@beta-cyclodextrin SERS substrate for rapid and selective determination of erythrosin B in dyed food

Schematic illustration of Ti3C2Tx-Ag@beta-CD substrate for selective analysis of EryB. [Display omitted] •Ti3C2Tx-AgNPs@β-CD SERS substrate was in-situ prepared by one-pot method.•Ti3C2Tx-AgNPs@β-CD substrate possessed good sensitivity and selectivity to erythrosin B.•Possible SERS enhancement and selective mechanism were presented.•Rapid and quantitative analysis of erythrosin B in dyed food. In this work, a native beta-cyclodextrin capped silver nanoparticles decorated Ti3C2Tx nanosheets (Ti3C2Tx-AgNPs@β-CD) surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate was developed by a facile one-pot method. The two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx nanosheets not only acted as the supporter to load AgNPs, but also served as chemical enhancement material. Meanwhile, β-CD played a critical role in the control of morphology and size of AgNPs, and its supramolecular structure also endowed the Ti3C2Tx-AgNPs@β-CD substrate with selectivity. The Ti3C2Tx-AgNPs@β-CD substrate exhibited excellent sensitivity, good intra-batch and inter-batch reproducibility, and long-term stability by detecting methylene blue model molecule. Then, the substrate was applied for selective determination of erythrosin B among pigment additives via the host-guest size-matching effect. The proposed SERS method with linear range of 1−100 mg/L and detection limit of 30 μg/L could realize rapid SERS analysis of erythrosin B in dyed food samples within 15 min with recoveries of 78.1 %–113.2 %. Erythrosin B was actually found in dyed cherry with 49 mg/kg and marshmallow with 16 mg/kg, and the result matched well with that of UV–vis method. Such a robust substrate possessed great values for efficient and rapid on-site SERS analysis in food safety issues.