Fabrication of copper nanoparticles decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes as a high performance electrochemical sensor for the detection of neotame.

A highly sensitive and novel electrochemical sensor for the detection of neotame using differential pulse voltammetry with a modified glassy carbon electrode is presented. The method was further customized by the fabrication of the electrode surface with copper nanoparticles-ammonium piperidine dithiocarbamate-mutiwalled carbon nanotubes assimilated with β-cyclodextrin. The multiwalled carbon nanotubes assimilated with β-cyclodextrin/glassy carbon electrode exhibited catalytic activity towards the oxidation of neotame at a potential of 1.3 V at pH 3.0. The transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, frontier transform infrared spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were employed to characterize the electrochemical sensor. The sensitivity and detection limits of the electrode increased two-fold in contrast to the β-CD-MWCNTs/GCE sensor. The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of neotame in food samples, with results similar to those achieved by our modified capillary electrophoresis method with a 96% confidence level.