Highly Sensitive and Simple Colorimetric Sensor of Melamine in Milk using Cysteamine-Modified Silver Nanoparticles

Ganden Supriyanto (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia)
Putri Bintang Dea Firda (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia)
Pinanggih Arum Diasyah (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia)
Ristyananda Refian Hidayatullah (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia)
Vivin Fasihatul Harfiah (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia)
Shohwatul Islami Nurjihan FH (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia)

ARMADA : Jurnal Penelitian Multidisiplin
Vol. 4 No. 9 (2026): ARMADA : Jurnal Penelitian Multidisplin, September 2026

A simple and rapid method to detect melamine in milk samples using cysteamine-modified silver nanoparticles (CA-AgNPs) is presented.  Stable AgNPs with an average particle size of 34.6 nm were successfully synthesized using sodium borohydride as a reducing agent. The thiol group of CA facilitates the grafting of CA on AgNPs substrate via the S-Ag complex. The color change from yellow to pink-purple was observed when CA-AgNPs were exposed to melamine. Quantitative analysis using UV-Vis spectrophotometry showed that the synthesized CA-AgNPs is a selective and sensitive colorimetric sensor for melamine with a limit of detection value of 0.094 µM which was much lower than the safe limits (2.0 µM in the USA) and recovery >90%. With the increased awareness of sustainable development goals, this research is an approach to achieving good health and well-being.