DOI: 10.3390/bios16100544 ISSN: 2079-6374

GO/Cysteamine-Modified Screen-Printed Carbon Electrode for Square-Wave Anodic Stripping Voltammetric Determination of Cadmium in Fortified Mango and Avocado Digestates

Miguel Angel Lozada Rufino, Eulogia Isabel Zapata Peña, Gonzalo Manuel Delgado Valdiviezo, Rosa Gisela Ortiz Castillo, Grecia Xiomara Herrera Gavilan, David César Ardiles Saravia, Luis Alfredo Espinoza-Espinoza, Karina Silvana Gutiérrez-Valverde

Cadmium contamination in fruits is a relevant food-safety concern because of its toxicity, environmental persistence, and potential transfer from agricultural soils to edible plant tissues. This study developed a screen-printed carbon electrode modified with graphene oxide and cysteamine (SPCE/GO–cysteamine) to determine Cd(II) by square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV). Two surface-modification routes, GO-cysteamine and GO-rGO-cysteamine, and GO concentrations of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 mg mL−1 were compared by cyclic voltammetry. The direct GO-cysteamine route at 0.2 mg mL−1 produced the highest CV response among the tested conditions and was selected for Cd(II) determination. Raman spectroscopy FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the graphene-based materials employed during surface optimization. Cd(II) concentrations from 1 to 10 µg L−1 were experimentally evaluated; with a calculated LOQ of 0.74 µg L−1, the entire experimentally evaluated range of 1–10 µg L−1, with a sensitivity of 11.30 µA (µg L−1)−1, R2 = 0.9892, a limit of detection of 0.25 µg L−1 and a limit of quantification of 0.74 µg L−1. Fortified Kent mango and Hass avocado digestates also showed concentration-dependent responses, with R2 values of 0.9799 and 0.9788, respectively, and relative standard deviations below 5%. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the SPCE/GO–cysteamine platform for Cd(II) determination in digested fruit matrices and support its further development as a portable screening approach for food-quality control.