TI₃C₂Tₓ MXENE-BASED ELECTROCHEMICAL AND SERS BIOSENSORS FOR RAPID DETECTION OF FOODBORNE PATHOGENS

Abstract

Foodborne pathogens (e.g., Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. And Listeria mono cytogenes) are important biohazards that are present in meat, milk, seafood, fruits and vegetables, ready-to-eat foods. Conventional microbiological methods typically take hours to weeks and require lab-based analysis, hence a growing demand exists for sensitive, rapid detection methods. In this study, Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene was investigated as a 2-D sensing platform to develop electrochemical and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based bioprobe sensors. Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene was found to offer an excellent framework comprising high electrical conductivity, large surface area, good hydrophilicity and surface functional groups for bioanalyte sensing and signal enhancement. Example data were developed based on information extracted from the literature with respect to the detection range (approximately 10-107 CFU/mL), limits of detection (˜5 CFU/mL for E. coli, approximately 5 CFU/mL for Salmonella, approximately 10-20 CFU/mL for L. monocytogenes), recovery (approximately 92-105%) and precision (approximately < 7%). The results confirmed the capability of MXene-based nanobiosensors to be applied as effective rapid food-contamination sensors. However, the mentioned number values are modelling/illustrative values only and they should be experimentally proved before being reported as original laboratory data.