Ultrasensitive electrochemical sensor for luteolin based on MOFs-derived metal oxide/alloy-doped nitrogen-containing porous carbon composites

As a natural flavonoid with diverse pharmacological activities, luteolin has shown attractive potential in various applications such as drug discovery, food preservation, health care products, and cosmetics. The precise quantification of luteolin is not only crucial for optimizing its therapeutic efficacy, but also for ensuring compliance with safety standards, as its biological activity largely depends on concentration thresholds and excessive intake may lead to adverse reactions. Here, we have successfully developed an electrochemical sensing platform for luteolin using a simple synthesis strategy. The core of this platform lies in the composite of metal oxides/alloys and nitrogen-doped porous carbon obtained after pyrolysis, whose unique porous architecture and rich pyrrolic nitrogen structure provide efficient adsorption sites for luteolin, while the diverse active centers embedded in the composite significantly enhance its electrocatalytic efficacy. The carefully constructed FeCo-NC-800/GCE electrochemical sensing platform exhibits excellent performance in detecting luteolin. More importantly, we have successfully applied this sensing platform to the detection of luteolin in actual samples such as peanut shells, honeysuckle, and chrysanthemum, which verified the accurate identification of luteolin by FeCo-NC-800/GCE in complex environmental backgrounds and demonstrated its great potential in practical applications.