PAMAM dendrimer-based tongue rapidly identifies multiple antibiotics

The overuse of antibiotics has resulted in severe environmental pollution. Most conventional techniques for antibiotic detection are time-consuming, professional operator-dependent and require expensive instruments. Herein, we describe a simple optoelectronic tongue consisting of three elaborately designed fifth-generation PAMAMs (PF1-PF3) to achieve rapid detection of antibiotics. 19 antibiotics were rapidly and accurately differentiated in water with 97% accuracy via this minimal tongue, proving the rationality of the array’s design. Furthermore, this tongue enabled the parallel detection of multiple sulfonamide residues (0.05 mM) in milk samples with 100% accuracy, demonstrating robust real sample detection capability. In this strategy, we have provided an efficient way for the comprehensive identification and determination of antibiotics.