Peroxidase-like activity of water-soluble cupric oxide nanoparticles and its analytical application for detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose

Water-soluble cupric oxide nanoparticles are fabricated via a quick-precipitation method and used as peroxidase mimetics for ultrasensitive detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose. The water-soluble CuO nanoparticles show much higher catalytic activity than that of commercial CuO nanoparticles due to their higher affinity to hydrogen peroxide. In addition, the as-prepared CuO nanoparticles are stable over a wide range of pH and temperature. This excellent stability in the form of aqueous colloidal suspensions makes the application of the water-soluble CuO nanoparticles easier in aqueous systems. A colorimetric assay for hydrogen peroxide and glucose has been established based on the catalytic oxidation of phenol coupled with 4-amino-atipyrine by the action of hydrogen peroxide. This analytical platform not only confirms the intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of the water-soluble cupric oxide nanoparticles, but also shows its great potential applications in environmental chemistry, biotechnology and medicine.     

Studies on substrates for the spectrophotometric determination of hydrogen peroxide based on the catalytic effects of peroxidase-like metalloporphyrins

Summary The effects have been studied of ten phenol derivatives as chromogenic substrates for the hydrogen peroxide oxidation of 4-aminoantipyrine, catalysed by horse radish peroxidase or peroxidase-like metalloporphyrins. Sodium 2-hydroxy-3,5-dichlorobenzene-sulfonate was found to be the most suitable substrate for the determination of H₂O₂.     

Peroxidase-like activity of magnetoferritin

Magnetoferritin is a spherical biomacromolecule with a diameter of about 12 nm. It consists of a protein shell composed of apoferritin that is surrounding magnetic nanoparticles of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) or maghemite (γ-Fe₂O₃). Magnetoferritins with various iron content (loading factor) were synthetically prepared and their peroxidase-like activities studied via the oxidation of the chromogenic substrate N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine sulfate by hydrogen peroxide to give a purple product with an absorption maximum at 551 nm. Magnetoferritin with higher loading factor exhibits a higher peroxidase-like activity. The catalytic activity was successfully applied to the determination of hydrogen peroxide in the 5.8 to 88.2 mM concentration range.

Unsupported palladium nanoparticles for ethanol cyclic voltammetric sensing in alkaline media

Carbon-supported palladium nanostructures have had a recent rise in their use for ethanol oxidation applications. In this work, we present the use of unsupported palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs), synthesized by sodium borohydride chemical reduction method, for ethanol electrochemical sensing. The unsupported PdNPs were studied for ethanol oxidation in alkaline media by cyclic voltammetry, and additionally were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The performance of unsupported PdNP-modified glassy carbon electrodes for the electrochemical ethanol oxidation in 1.0 M potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution was studied by cyclic voltammetry. These electrochemical results demonstrated that the unsupported PdNPs have very promising catalytic activity towards the oxidation of ethanol in alkaline media with good detection performance in the concentration range of 2304 to 288 ppm (i.e., 50.00 to 6.25 mM). The detection limit and linear correlation coefficient were 49.3 ppm (1.10 mM) and 0.9998, respectively. The unsupported PdNP-modified glassy carbon electrodes presented good cyclic voltammetric stability for ethanol sensing application in alkaline media.     

Novel PEI–AuNPs–MnIIIPPIX nanocomposite with enhanced peroxidase-like catalytic activity in aqueous media

Mn porphyrin provides a possibility to constitute the novel mimic catalyst with peroxidase-like activity. A simple method for preparing a novel catalyst PEI–AuNPs–Mn^IIIPPIX, used in aqueous media, was presented in this paper. The covalent anchoring of Mn^IIIPPIX and PEI were verified, meanwhile gold nanoparticles with the diameter less than 10 nm were dispersed uniformly and stably. The remarkable peroxidase-like catalytic activity of PEI–AuNPs–Mn^IIIPPIX was displayed in the oxidative degradation of azo dye acid orange 7 (AO7) as the model reaction in the presence of trace of H₂O₂. The synergistic effects of PEI–AuNPs and Mn^IIIPPIX on the enhancement of catalytic activity were observed at pH 2.0. Possible pathways involving in the formation of active radicals are proposed. The construction of PEI–AuNPs–Mn^IIIPPIX nanocomposite offers a new insight into the application of Mn porphyrin upon activation of H₂O₂, which have potential applications in many fields.     

Mechanism of the Oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-Tetramethylbenzidine Catalyzed by Peroxidase-Like Pt Nanoparticles Immobilized in Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes: A Kinetic Study

Experimental and kinetic modelling studies are presented to investigate the mechanism of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) oxidation by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) catalyzed by peroxidase-like Pt nanoparticles immobilized in spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB−Pt). Due to the high stability of SPB−Pt colloidal, this reaction can be monitored precisely in situ by UV/VIS spectroscopy. The time-dependent concentration of the blue-colored oxidation product of TMB expressed by different kinetic models was used to simulate the experimental data by a genetic fitting algorithm. After falsifying the models with abundant experimental data, it is found that both H₂O₂ and TMB adsorb on the surface of Pt nanoparticles to react, indicating that the reaction follows the Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism. A true rate constant k, characterizing the rate-determining step of the reaction and which is independent on the amount of catalysts used, is obtained for the first time. Furthermore, it is found that the product adsorbes strongly on the surface of nanoparticles, thus inhibiting the reaction. The entire analysis provides a new perspective to study the catalytic mechanism and evaluate the catalytic activity of the peroxidase-like nanoparticles.     

Copper nanoclusters as peroxidase mimetics and their applications to H2O2 and glucose detection

Copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) are found to possess intrinsic peroxidase-like activity for the first time. Similar to nature peroxidase, they can catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine by H₂O₂ to produce a nice blue color reaction. Compared with horseradish peroxidase, Cu NCs exhibits higher activity near neutral pH, which is beneficial for biological applications. The increase in absorbance caused by the Cu NCs catalytic reaction allows the detection of H₂O₂ in the range of 10 μM to 1 mM with a detection limit of 10 μM. A colorimetric method for glucose detection was also developed by combining the Cu NCs catalytic reaction and the enzymatic oxidation of glucose with glucose oxidase. Taking into account the advantages of ultra-small size, good stability, and high biocompatibility in aqueous solutions, Cu NCs are expected to have potential applications in biotechnology and clinical diagnosis as enzymatic mimics.     

A comparative study of electrocatalytic performance of the M@Pt (M = Fe<Subscript>3</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>, Co and Ni) nanoparticles for direct ethanol fuel cells

In this study, we have successfully synthesized the M@Pt (M = Fe₃O₄, Co and Ni) nanoparticles catalysts through the sodium borohydride reduction method for a comparative studies of their electrocatalytic performance towards ethanol oxidation in acidic media. After the structure, surface morphology and chemical composition characterization of the synthesized core–shell nanoparticles, their electrocatalytic activities towards oxidation of ethanol in acidic media were studied in detail. We investigated the effect of the core element (Fe₃O₄, Co and Ni) on the electrochemical behaviour as well as the enhancement of the electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation reaction. Overall, the obtained results show that the all of these electrocatalysts exhibited an enhanced activity than Pt-alone nanoparticles towards ethanol oxidation reaction. On the other hand, the comparative studies of their electrocatalytic performance show that the Ni@Pt nanoparticles present the best performance with the maximum electrocatalytic activity and stability.     

Ionic liquid coated iron nanoparticles are promising peroxidase mimics for optical determination of H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript>

Ionic liquid coated nanoparticles (IL-NPs) consisting of zero-valent iron are shown to display intrinsic peroxidase-like activity with enhanced potential to catalyze the oxidation of the chromogenic substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. This results in the formation of a blue green colored product that can be detected with bare eyes and quantified by photometry at 652 nm. The IL-NPs were further doped with bismuth to enhance its catalytic properties. The Bi-doped IL-NPs were characterized by FTIR, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. A colorimetric assay was worked out for hydrogen peroxide that is simple, sensitive and selective. Response is linear in the 30–300 μM H₂O₂ concentration range, and the detection limit is 0.15 μM.

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Graphical abstract Schematic of ionic liquid coated iron nanoparticles that display intrinsic peroxidase-like activity. They are capable of oxidizing the chromogenic substrate 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. This catalytic oxidation generated blue-green color can be measured by colorimetry. Response is linear in the range of 30–300 μM H₂O₂ concentration, and the detection limit is 0.15 μM.

     

Self-assembled all-inclusive organic-inorganic nanoparticles enable cascade reaction for the detection of glucose

Traditional colorimetric glucose biosensor generally involves complex assay procedures. Free labile enzymes and peroxidase substrates are used separately for triggering a chromogenic reaction. These limits result in inferior enzyme stability and defective enzymatic catalytic efficiency, making it hard to routinely utilize them for the direct and fast test of glucose. In this work, we provide an all-inclusive substrates/enzymes nanoparticle employed 3,3′5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) as chromogenic substrates and glucose oxidase (GOx)/horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as signal amplifier enzymes (TMB-GH NPs) by the molecule self-assembly technique. The “all-inclusive” nanoparticles can realize the tandem colorimetric reactions, and the oxidation product of TMB (ox-TMB) exhibits a strong NIR laser-driven photothermal effect, thus allowing quantitative photothermal detection of glucose. Owing to the restriction of the molecular motion of GOx, HRP, and TMB, the distance of mass transfer between substrates was shortened largely, leading to improved catalytic activity for glucose. Overall, our strategy will simplify the analysis procedure, furthermore, these integrated nanoparticles not only display higher stability and activity than that of the free GOx/HRP system and possesses an excellent performance for colorimetric and photothermal bioassay of glucose simultaneously. We believe that this unique technique will give good inspirations to develop simple and precise methods for bioassay.     

Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity of Methanol and Ethanol Oxidation in Alkaline Medium at Bimetallic Nanoparticles Electrochemically Decorated Fullerene-C60 Nanocomposite Electrocatalyst: An Efficient Anode Material for Alcohol Fuel Cell Applications

Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) have been recently playing a pivotal role in electrochemical energy sources and portable electronics. Research in DAFCs has proceeded to engage major attention due to their high catalytic activity, long-term stability, portability, and low cost. Herein, we present a facile surfactant-free route to anchor bimetallic Pd−W nanoparticles supported fullerene-C₆₀ catalyst (Pd-W@Fullerene-C₆₀) for high-performance electrooxidation of alcohols (methanol & ethanol) for DAFCs applications. Structural, elemental composition, and morphological analysis of the proposed catalyst were carried out using UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Electrochemical properties such as electrochemical activity, electrochemical active surface area (ECSA), and long-term stability of the Pd-W@Fullerene-C₆₀ catalyst for ethanol and methanol oxidation in the alkaline medium were explored by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and chronoamperometry (CA). Results revealed that the proposed catalyst showed enlarged ECSA, tremendous electrocatalytic activity, high poison tolerance limit, good reproducibility, and enhanced long-term stability as compared to the monometallic catalyst and commercially available catalyst (Pt/C) towards ethanol and methanol oxidation reaction. This enhanced potentiality of the Pd-W@Fullerene-C₆₀ catalyst is due to the synergistic effect of W−Pd nanoparticles and excellent electron kinetic from fullerene support material. These findings strongly suggest the Pd-W@Fullerene-C₆₀ catalyst as potential anode material for the alcohol oxidation reaction.     

Gold nanoparticles as dehydrogenase mimicking nanozymes for estradiol degradation

Nanozyme catalysis has been mainly focused on a few chromogenic and fluorogenic substrates, while environmentally and biologically important compounds need to be tested to advance the field. In this work, we studied oxidation of estradiol (E2) in the presence of various nanomaterials including gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), nanoceria (CeO₂), Fe₃O₄, Fe₂O₃, MnO₂ and Mn₂O₃, and found that AuNPs had a dehydrogenase-mimicking activity to convert E2 to estrone (E1). This conversion was monitored using HPLC. The reaction was faster at higher pH and reached saturation at pH 8. Smaller AuNPs had a higher catalytic efficiency and 5 nm AuNPs were 4.8-fold faster than 13 nm at the same total surface area. Finally, we tried 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) as a substrate and found that 5 nm AuNPs can catalyze EE2 oxidation in the presence of H₂O₂. This work indicated that some nanomaterials can affect environmentally important hormones via oxidation reactions, and this study has expanded the scope of substrate of nanozymes.     

Ni,Ru掺杂CePO4纳米材料的合成与仿酶性质

通过水热方法合成了具有高比表面积的Ni, Ru掺杂CePO₄纳米粒子(NiRu-CePO₄). 结合纳米粒子的X射线衍射(XRD)、 扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、 透射电子显微镜(TEM)和X射线能谱(EDX)的表征结果发现, NiRu-CePO₄符合六方相磷酸铈, 纳米粒子长轴尺寸约为20 nm, Ni和Ru均匀分布于纳米CePO₄中; 样品的BET表面积高达178.4 m²/g, ζ电势为-18.2 mV. 以3,3',5,5'-四甲基联苯胺(TMB)作为电子供体和显色剂, 通过分光光度法监测652 nm处的吸光度值对产物浓度进行分析, 结果表明, NiRu-CePO₄催化剂在宽泛的pH范围内表现出类过氧化物酶和类氧化酶活性. 对催化后的催化剂进行表征, 发现样品形貌、 元素分散性和表面Ce的价态均未显著变化, 表明NiRu-CePO₄具有较高的稳定性.     

Cs2PtI6 Halide Perovskite is Stable to Air,Moisture, and Extreme pH: Application to Photoelectrochemical Solar Water Oxidation

Halide perovskites show incredible photovoltaic power conversion efficiency coupled with several hundreds of hours of device stability. However, their stability is poor in aqueous electrolyte media. Reported here is a vacancy ordered halide perovskite, Cs₂PtI₆, which shows extraordinary stability under ambient conditions (1 year), in aqueous media of extreme acidic (pH 1), basic (pH 13), and under electrochemical reduction conditions. It was employed as an electrocatalyst and photoanode for hydrogen production and water oxidation, respectively. The catalyst remains intact for at least 100 cycles of electrochemical cycling and six hours of hydrogen production at pH 1. Cs₂PtI₆ was employed as a photoanode for PEC water oxidation, and the material displayed a photocurrent of 0.8 mA cm^?2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE) under simulated AM1.5G sunlight. Using constant voltage measurement, Cs₂PtI₆ exhibited over 12 hours of PEC stability without loss of performance.     

GO-PtNi hybrid nanoenzyme mimics for the colorimetric detection of hydrogen peroxide

GO-PtNi nanocomposites with intrinsic peroxidase-like activity were obtained through one-pot synthesis. The hybrid nanomaterial was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The peroxidase-like activity of GO-PtNi nanocomposites was found to be dependent on pH, temperature, the concentration of enzyme and substrates. The optimal conditions for the catalytic activity of GO-PtNi nanocomposites were determined. Based on these findings, a simple and sensitive colorimetric method for the detection of H₂O₂ by using GO-PtNi nanocomposites and 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) was developed. The linear range was from 0.08 to 1.5 mM with a detection limit of 5 μM.     

Cs2PtI6 Halide Perovskite is Stable to Air,Moisture, and Extreme pH: Application to Photoelectrochemical Solar Water Oxidation

Halide perovskites show incredible photovoltaic power conversion efficiency coupled with several hundreds of hours of device stability. However, their stability is poor in aqueous electrolyte media. Reported here is a vacancy ordered halide perovskite, Cs₂PtI₆, which shows extraordinary stability under ambient conditions (1 year), in aqueous media of extreme acidic (pH 1), basic (pH 13), and under electrochemical reduction conditions. It was employed as an electrocatalyst and photoanode for hydrogen production and water oxidation, respectively. The catalyst remains intact for at least 100 cycles of electrochemical cycling and six hours of hydrogen production at pH 1. Cs₂PtI₆ was employed as a photoanode for PEC water oxidation, and the material displayed a photocurrent of 0.8 mA cm⁻² at 1.23 V (vs. RHE) under simulated AM1.5G sunlight. Using constant voltage measurement, Cs₂PtI₆ exhibited over 12 hours of PEC stability without loss of performance.     

Highly Stable Carbon-Shell Encapsulated Ni−Cu Bimetallic Catalysts for Efficient Conversion of Levulinic Acid to γ-Valerolactone

Non-noble Ni−Cu alloys serve as an alternative catalytic material for noble metal-based catalysts that could be applied in the efficient conversion of levulinic acid (LA) into the high value γ-valerolactone (GVL). However, maintaining the catalytic stability for Ni−Cu nanoparticles in the LA hydrogenation process remains a substantial challenge, Herein, this problem is solved by constructing carbon-protected catalytic sites within carbon layer-coated Ni−Cu nanoalloy composite via pyrolysis of NiCu_x(OH)/glucose precursor. The optimized NiCu_0.68@C catalyst exhibits excellent stability and selectivity to GVL (>99 %) in the hydrogenation of LA reaction. Various characterization indicates that the enhancement in stability originates from the protective effect of the carbon layer, which prevents the metal leaching, oxidation and aggregation of Ni−Cu nanoparticles during the reaction process. This work greatly advances non-noble metal-catalyzed conversion of LA to GVL and helps the rational design of bimetallic catalysts.     

Spectrophotometric Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide and Glucose Based on Hemin Peroxidase-Like Catalyzed Oxidation of Bromopyrogallol Red

In an ammonium buffer medium at pH 8.9–9.5, hemin exhibits mimetic peroxidase activity, and has a catalytic effect on the oxidative decoloration of bromopyrogallol red (BPR) with hydrogen peroxide. On this basis and in presence of ethanol as an effect-enhancing agent, a spectrophotometric determination of hydrogen peroxide is described with an apparent molar absorptivity of 4.00×10⁴?l?mol^?1?cm^?1 and a linear range from 3.2×10^?7 to 3.2×10^?5?mol?l^?1. BPR has advantages over some of widely used chromogenic substrates in aspects of sensitivity, simplicity and detection wavelength, while hemin has better stability than peroxidase. The system can be easily coupled with a glucose oxidase-catalyzed reaction, and glucose in the concentration range of 6.0×10^?7? 3.2×10^?5?mol?l^?1 is spectrophotometrically determined. The method has been applied to the analyses of synthetic water and human serum samples. The Michaelis parameters and the mechanism of the mimetic peroxidase reaction are also investigated.     

Functional delivery vehicle of organic nanoparticles in inorganic crystals

Encapsulation of bioactive substances for extended shelf life and controlled, targeted release is critical for their applications in food and drug delivery. Here, a new method has been developed to encapsulate bioactive molecules in the crystal composites, showing greatly enhanced stability and unique pH-triggered response. Chlorophyll, a model bioactive, is first loaded in shellac nanoparticles via co-precipitation with a high encapsulation efficiency, and then the chlorophyll-loaded nanoparticles are incorporated into calcite crystals grown from a gel media containing the nanoparticles. Under the protection of shellac nanoparticles and calcite crystals, chlorophyll shows excellent stability even under light. Encapsulated chlorophyll could only be released by first dissolving the calcite crystals under acidic condition and then dissolving the shellac nanoparticles under alkaline condition. The unique pH-triggered release mimics the pH change from acidic in the stomach to alkaline in the intestine and is thus well suited for controlled, targeted intestinal release. This work suggests that the crystal composites are an ideal delivery vehicle for the functional design of bioactive molecules.     

Oxidation of ethanol on carbon-supported oxide-rich Pd–W bimetallic nanoparticles in alkaline media

Carbon-supported oxide-rich Pd–W bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared by chemical reduction methods. The existence of oxides in the electrocatalysts is confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. XPS analysis indicates that the oxygen atoms account for about 50% of all the atoms in Pd–W bimetallic nanoparticles. Compared to Pd/C catalyst, the carbon-supported oxide-rich Pd–W bimetallic nanoparticles exhibit a better catalytic activity for the anode oxidation of ethanol in alkaline media. The onset potential of the as prepared oxide-rich Pd_0.8W_0.2/C catalyst (Pd: W = 8: 2, metal atom ratio) for ethanol oxidation is negative shifted about 90 mV comparing to Pd/C catalyst. The oxide-rich Pd–W/C electrocatalysts provide a new model of noble-metal/promoter system as an extreme case of making the promoter (WO₃) closely adjacent to the noble metal (Pd) by fabricating nanoparticles containing both atom-clusters of oxides and the noble metal atoms.