# MXene-Modified Fiber-Based Electronic Tongue for Sensitive Detection of Antibiotic Residues in Milk

## TL;DR

A new electronic tongue using MXene-coated fibers can detect tiny amounts of antibiotics in milk, offering a fast and affordable solution for food safety.

## Contribution

A scalable and cost-effective MXene-modified fiber-based electronic tongue for sensitive antibiotic detection in food.

## Key findings

- MXene-modified fibers were used as electrodes in an impedimetric electronic tongue.
- The system detected antibiotics in milk at concentrations as low as 10 nM.
- The approach offers a scalable and practical alternative for food safety testing.

## Abstract

The widespread use of antibiotics has raised concerns
about their
residues in dairy products, meat, fish, and poultry, which can pose
risks to human health and lead to substantial economic losses. Therefore,
the rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective detection of low concentrations
of various antibiotics in food samples is critical. This work reports
on the fabrication of MXene fibers by coating commercial nylon yarns
with Ti3C2, Ti3C1.75N0.25, and Ti3C1.5N0.5 MXenes
and their use as electrodes in an impedimetric electronic tongue (e-tongue).
The MXene-modified fiber-based e-tongue was employed in the detection
of trace amounts of cloxacillin benzathine, tetracycline hydrochloride,
and streptomycin sulfate. By treating the collected electrical resistance
data, the system could differentiate the antibiotics and detect their
presence in real milk samples at concentrations as low as 10 nM. The
use of low-cost MXene-modified nylon fibers as electrodes, which can
be fabricated through rapid and straightforward methods, enhances
the scalability and practicability of the e-tongue system. This approach
represents a promising and robust alternative for the sensitive detection
of diverse antibiotic residues in food matrices.