MOF-Based Dual Sensor for the Electrochemical and Fluorescence Detection of Nicotine

Detection of nicotine is highly desired; therefore, there is an endless need to develop multifunctional sensors that can detect nicotine in more than one way. Metal–organic frameworks, a class of porous hybrid materials known for their tunability, can be strong candidates for developing nicotine sensors. In this work, we have developed a pure Metal–organic framework (MOF)-based dual sensor for the highly selective detection of nicotine. Interestingly, the sensor can efficiently detect nicotine using fluorescence and electrochemical sensing technique with a detection limit as low as 0.25 μM. Real cigarette and urine samples have been studied to evaluate the nicotine content in actual conditions where the sensor shows nearly 100% nicotine recovery. Selectivity experiments demonstrate that the MOF sensor can efficiently detect nicotine in the presence of other interfering analytes such as glucose, dopamine, and various metal salts. A plausible mechanism has been described for the MOFs’ nicotine-sensing ability and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis shows that nicotine is present in the MOF samples after the sensing experiment.