Highly efficient non-enzymatic electrochemical determination of histamine based on tungsten trioxide nanoparticles for evaluation of food quality

Histamine is one of the biogenic amines, which plays a vital role in the neurotransmission processes, regulation of gastrointestinal, circulatory, and inflammatory reactions in the human systems. It is also found more frequently in the spoiled food, particularly fish and fishery items. Thus, histamine determination is very important for biomedical application and food quality assurance. Here, we report a mediator and promoter-free electrochemical histamine sensor developed using visible light exposed tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanoparticles as sensing material. WO3 NPs irradiated for different exposition periods were characterized using XRD, UV-visible spectroscopy, and electrochemical methods. The WO3 NPs irradiated for 8 h exhibited significant changes in the structural, electrical, and electrochemical properties when compared to the non-irradiated samples. The cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) studies carried out on irradiated WO3-modified glassy carbon electrode exhibited an excellent electrocatalytic ability toward the oxidation of histamine in phosphate buffer saline (PBS, pH 6.0). DPV studies revealed that the developed sensor has higher sensitivity over a wide linear concentration range from 1 nM to 1 mM with the lowest detection limit of 0.17 nm. The major impediment with the histamine sensing in real samples is the interference caused by other biogenic amines and biomolecules with structural similarity to histamine. The present sensor based on WO3 nanoparticles exhibited high selectivity toward histamine in the presence of several potentially interfering substances such as biogenic amines (cadaverine, putrescine, dopamine, and serotonin), amino acids (cysteine, phenylalanine, histidine, tryptophan, and tyrosine) and other biomolecules (glucose, ascorbic acid, uric acid), cations (Na+, K+ and Ca2+), and anions (Cl-, NO3- and SO42-). The fabricated sensor was successfully applied to determine the histamine content in vinegar sample.