Smartphone-assisted curcumin-based fluorescence sensing platform for alcohol content in Chinese liquor via hydrogen bond manipulation

Alcohol content is one of the most important quality control metrics in Chinese liquor production, and its accurate determination is highly desired in safeguarding product quality, consumer health, and tax assessment. This study presents an innovative fluorescence sensing platform for alcohol content determination. Curcumin was used as a fluorescent indicator, which demonstrated distinct fluorescence responses to hydrogen bonding interaction with ethanol and water. Experimental results demonstrated an excellent linear correlation between fluorescence intensity changes and alcohol content (20–80 %, vol%) with a strong correlation coefficient (R 2  = 0.991), excellent precision (relative standard deviation <1.67 %) and accuracy (recovery rate 96.78–102.79 %, relative error ± 3.22 %). Further integrated with smartphone technology, a portable fluorescence sensing platform was developed, which enables accurate alcohol content determination through RGB analysis of fluorescent images. This novel method demonstrates promising potential in practical applications, offering a portable and user-friendly solution for alcohol content determination in food and beverage industries.