Synthesis of a Palladium-Graphene Material and Its Application for Formaldehyde Determination

A novel electrochemical sensor for formaldehyde determination was fabricated by using the Pd-graphene nanohybrides. Pd-graphene nanohybrids were prepared via a concise chemical reduction method. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used for the characterization of structure and morphology of the nanohybrids. The result showed that Pd nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed and were well-separated on the graphene sheets. The Pd-graphene nanohybrids were dissolved in Nafion and modified on the glassy carbon electrode to fabricate the electrochemical sensor. This proposed electrochemical sensor performed excellent electrocatalytic activity toward formaldehyde oxidation in alkaline medium. The peak current was linearly related to the formaldehyde concentration in the range of 7.75 µM to 62.0 µM with the detection limit of 3.15 µM. The highly sensitive and robust graphene based Pd nanohybrids sensor offers a promising and practical tool for formaldehyde sensing and chemical analysis.     

Colorimetric Artificial Nose for Identification of Breath Volatile Organic Compounds of Patients with Lung Cancer

A novel and highly sensitive colorimetric sensor array was developed for the detection and identification of breath volatile organic compounds（VOCs） of patients with lung cancer.Employing dimeric metalloporphyrins,metallosalphen complexes,and chemically responsive dyes as the sensing elements,the developed sensor array of artificial nose shows a unique pattern of colorific changes upon its exposure to eight less-reactive VOCs and their mixture gas at a concentration of 735 nmol/L within 3 min.Potential of quantitative analysis of VOCs samples was proved.A good linear relationship of 490-3675 nmol/L was obtained for benzene vapor with a detection limit of 49 nmol/L（S/N=3）.Data analysis was carried out by Hierarchical cluster analysis（HCA） and principal component analysis（PCA）.Each category of breath VOCs clusters together in the PCA score plot.No errors in classification by HCA were observed in 45 trials.Additionaly,the colorimetric sensor array showed good reproducibility under the cyclic sensing experiments.These results demonstrate that the developed colorimetric artificial nose system is an excellent sensing platform for the identification and quantitative analysis of breath VOCs of patients with lung cancer.     

A sulpha-drug sensitive sensor based on ion-pair complex modified PQC resonator

The construction and general performance characteristics of the piezoelectric sensors responsive to sulpha-drug are described here. The proposed sensing method is based on the use of the ion-pair complex of sulphadiazine-cetyltrioctylammonium. The complex, together with cholestyramine was embedded in PVC matrix. This sensor exhibited reasonable selectivity and a sensitive mass response to sulpha-drugs. The response range of the sensor was between 1.0x10(-7) and 1.0x10(-5) M with a detection limit of 8x10(-8) M at pH 8.63. The influencing factors were investigated in detail and optimized.     

Carbon Quantum Dots Co‐catalyzed with ZnO Nanoflowers and Poly (CTAB) Nanosensor for Simultaneous Sensitive Detection of Paracetamol and Ciprofloxacin in Biological Samples

A novel platform based incorporation of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and zinc oxide nanoflowers (ZnO‐NFs) decorated with poly cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was developed as electrochemical sensor for the sensitive and selective simultaneous detection of Paracetamol (PAR) and Ciprofloxacin (CIP) in biological samples. For this, CQDs and ZnO‐NFs were first deposited on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and subsequently a Poly (CTAB) layer was grown onto their surfaces through electro‐polymerization. The synthesized nanostructures and the corresponding fabricated sensor were characterized by the techniques of TEM, XRD, FE‐SEM, and EDX analysis. Moreover electrochemical characterization by CV and DPV were performed to elucidate the construction process and electron transfer abilities of the CQDs/ZnO‐NFs/Poly(CTAB)/GCE. Increased sensitivity and efficiency of this sensing system was obtained due to the synergistic effects of CQDs, ZnO‐NFs and Poly (CTAB) with multi‐signal amplification. Under the optimum conditions, the DPV response of proposed sensor to PAR and CIP was linear at 0.05–30.0 μM and 0.01–30.0 μM, with the detection limit of 2.47 nM and 1.97 nM respectively. The sensor possessed high stability, reproducibility, sensitivity, and selectivity toward PAR and CIP detection, over potential interferents and presented high recovery percentage in the real sample matrices.     

H2O2 Screening from Saliva of Gum Diseased‐patient through CN‐dot Wrapped Cu2O Nano‐frogspawns Ionic Liquid Nanocomposite

Herein, we report the development of a robust, sensitive, and selective non‐enzymatic electrochemical sensor for the detection of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). The novel BA modified CN‐dot wrapped Cu₂O‐nano‐frogspawn (FS@CN‐dot) sensor probe demonstrated a catalytic property towards H₂O₂ that allowed the highly sensitive electrochemical detection at a low reduction potential. The as prepared CN‐dot wrapped Cu₂O hetero‐structured nanocomposite was analyzed using surface analysis methods to confirm the morphology, crystallinity, and oxidation states of various constituents and dopant elements. Further, the morphological analysis of the Cu₂O nanoparticles revealed that the Cu₂O retains frogspawns‐liked structure. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the sensor showed a wide dynamic range of H₂O₂ from 0.5 μM to 9 mM with a detection limit (LD) of 1.2±0.1 nM. The designed sensing probe showed good stability, high sensitivity, and selectivity even in the presence of potential interfering molecules. To check the reliability of the fabricated sensor in biomedical applications, the proposed sensing probe was successfully applied to monitor H₂O₂ in saliva of a gum‐diseased patient. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first of its kind not only because of its novel construction style in terms of CN source, but also in terms of real sample applicability as well.     

Fabrication of an optical sensor based on the immobilization of Qsal on the plasticized PVC membrane for the determination of copper(II)

A novel optical sensor has been proposed for sensitive determination of Cu(II) ion in aqueous solutions. The copper sensing membrane was prepared by incorporating Qsal (2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-3H-anthra[2,1-d]imidazole-6,11-dione) as ionophore in the plasticized PVC membrane containing tributyl phosphate (TBP) as plasticizer. The membrane responds to Cu(II) ion by changing color reversibly from yellow to dark red in acetate buffer solution at pH 4.0. The proposed sensor displays a linear range of 6.3 × 10^?7?1.00 × 10^?4 M with a limit of detection of 3.3 × 10^?7 M. The response time of the optical sensor was about 3?C5 min, depending on the concentration of Cu(II) ions. The selectivity of the optical sensor to Cu(II) ions in acetate buffer is good. The sensor can readily be regenerated by hydrochloric acid (0.1 M). The optical sensor is fully reversible. The proposed optical sensor was applied to the determination of Cu(II) in environmental water samples.     

Single Conducting Polymer Nanowire Based Sequence‐Specific,Base‐Pair‐Length Dependant Label‐free DNA Sensor

We have fabricated a highly sensitive, simple and label‐free single polypyrrole (Ppy) nanowire based conductometric/chemiresistive DNA sensor. The fabrication was optimized in terms of probe DNA sequence immobilization using a linker molecule and using gold‐thiol interaction. Two resultant sensor designs working on two different sensing mechanisms (gating effect and work function based sensors) were tested to establish reliable sensor architecture with higher sensitivity and device‐to‐device reproducibility. The utility of the work function based configuration was demonstrated by detecting 19 base pair (bp) long breast cancer gene sequence with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discrimination with high sensitivity, lower detection limit of ∼10⁻¹⁶ M and wide dynamic range (∼10⁻¹⁶ to 10⁻¹¹ M) in a small sample volume (30 µL). To further demonstrate the utility of the DNA sensor for detection of target sequences with different number of bases, targets with 21 and 36 bases were detected. These sequences have implications in environmental sample analysis or metagenomics. Sensor response showed increase with the number of bases in the target sequence. For long sequence (with 36 bases), effect of DNA alignment on sensor performance was studied.     

A novel non-enzymatic glucose sensor based on Cu nanoparticle modified graphene sheets electrode

A novel, stable and sensitive non-enzymatic glucose sensor was developed by potentiostatically electrodepositing metallic Cu nanoparticles on graphene sheets. The electrochemical performance of the Cu-graphene sheets electrode for detection of glucose was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronamperometry. The Cu-graphene sheets electrode displayed a synergistic effect of copper nanoparticles and graphene sheets towards the oxidation of glucose in alkaline solution, showing higher oxidation current and negative shift in peak potential. At detection potential of 500 mV, the Cu-graphene electrode sensor presented a wide linear range up to 4.5 mM glucose with a detection limit of 0.5 μM (signal/noise = 3). In addition, the sensor responds very quickly (<2 s) with addition of glucose. Furthermore, the Cu-graphene sheets electrode exhibits high stability and selectivity to glucose, and the poisoning by chloride ion as well as interference from the oxidation of common interfering species (ascorbic, dopamine, uric acid and carbohydrate) are effectively avoided. The Cu-graphene sheets electrode allows highly selective and sensitive, stable and fast amperometric sensing of glucose, which is promising for the development of non-enzymatic glucose sensor.     

PdFe Ultrathin Nanosheets for Highly Sensitive Detection of Nitrite

PdFe ultrathin nanosheets (NSs) were prepared by one‐step hydrothermal route. PdFe NSs showed superior catalytic activity towards the oxidation of nitrite due to the large surface area of 2 dimensional (2D) nanostructure and the synergetic effect between Pd and Fe. A sensitive and selective electrochemical nitrite sensing platform was designed base on PdFe NSs and the amperometric technique. The limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 0.12 μM (S/N=3), with a linear relationship between nitrite concentration and response current in the range of 1–160 μM. The nitrite sensor was applied to analysis of nitrite in tap water and sausage successfully.     

A simple and sensitive fluorescent sensing platform for Hg²+ ions assay based on G-quenching

In this work, a novel fluorescence biosensor was demonstrated for detection of Hg(2+) ions with relatively high selectivity and sensitivity. The sensing scheme was based on G-quenching induced by Hg(2+) ions. In the presence of Hg(2+) ions, the single-stranded signal probe which has carboxylfluorescein (FAM) and guanine segment at its 5' and 3' ends, respectively, folded into duplex-like structure via the Hg(2+)-mediated coordination of T-Hg(2+)-T base pairs. It brought guannine segment close to the dye and caused a remarkable decrease of fluorescence signal. The sensor showed a sensitive response to Hg(2+) ions in a concentration range from 0.5 to 10 μM, and a detection limit of 0.5 nM was given. This homogeneous system required only a single-labeled oligonucleotide, operated by concise procedures, and possessed comparable sensitivity as previous approaches. Furthermore, the sensor exhibits a great perspective for future practical applications.     

Sequence-specific electrochemical detection of double-strand PCR amplicons of PML/RARα fusion gene in acute promyelocytic leukemia

A novel electrochemical method for the sequence-specific detection of double-stranded polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products of PML/RARα fusion gene in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) was described in detail. Based on a “sandwich” sensing mode involving a pair of locked nucleic acids probes (capture probe and reporter probe), this DNA sensor exhibited excellent selectivity and specificity. The direct and quantitative analysis of double-stranded complementary was firstly performed by our sensor without the use of alkali, helicase enzymes, or denaturants. Finally, combining PCR technique with electrochemical detection scheme, PCR amplicons (191 bp) of the PML/RARα fusion gene were obtained and rapidly identified with a low detection limit of 79 fmol in the 100-μL hybridization system. The results clearly showed the power of sensor as a promising tool for the sensitive, specific, and portable detection of APL and other diseases.     

A Novel Electrochemical Sensor for Detection of Molinate Using ZnO Nanoparticles Loaded Carbon Electrode

In this work, electrochemical detection of molinate herbicide was studied by developing a novel sensor based on carbon paste incorporated with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles using cyclic (CV) and square wave voltammetric (SWV) techniques. Molinate exhibited one well resolved peak at pH of 3.0 phosphate buffer solution (PBS), which was irreversible. The lowest possible detection limit of 1.0×10^?8 M was achieved in the concentration range of 0.002 μM to 0.25 μM. The modifying ability of ZnO nanoparticles was responsible for such a low level sensing in water and soil samples.     

Carbon nanofibers decorated with platinum nanoparticles: a novel three-dimensional platform for non-enzymatic sensing of hydrogen peroxide

We have developed a 3-dimensional (3-D) electrochemical sensor for highly sensitive detection of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). Porous 3-D carbon nanofibers (CNFs), prepared by electrospinning, served as scaffold on a glassy carbon electrode. The 3-D CNFs were functionalized with platinum nanoparticles (Pt-NPs) by in-situ gas-phase decomposition of platinum salts at high temperature. The Pt-NPs act as an electrocatalyst for the decomposition of H₂O₂. TEM revealed that large amounts of Pt-NPs are deposited in the electrospun CNFs electrode even without using any stabilizer or reducing reagent. The sensor was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and amperometry and displays a good response to H₂O₂ with a linear range between 10 μM and 15 mM (R?=?0.9994), a low detection limit (3.4 μM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3), and a response time of 3 s. The sensor shows excellent stability and selectivity.

Cauliflower‐like Platinum Particles Decorated Reduced Graphene Oxide for Sensitive Determination of Acetaminophen

Over the past years, the development of electrochemical sensing platforms for the sensitive detection of drug molecules have received great interests. In this research study, we introduced cauliflower‐like platinum particles decorated reduced graphene oxide modified glassy carbon electrode (Pt?RGO/GCE) as an electrochemical sensing platform for highly sensitive determination of acetaminophen (ACTM). The sensor was prepared via a simple and environmentally friendly two‐step electrodeposition method at room temperature. The combination of conductive RGO nanosheets and unique structured Pt particles (average 232 nm in diameter) provided an efficient interface with large effective surface area which greatly facilitated the electron transfer of ACTM. The experimental conditions that might affect the drug detection were studied in detail and optimized for best performance. The Pt?RGO/GCE was able to detect ACTM up to the limit of 2.2 nM with a linear concentration range from 0.01 to 350 μM. With its high reproducibility, excellent stability and selectivity, the as‐fabricated sensor was successfully applied to the ACTM content measurement in commercial tablets.     

Potential Application of Carbon-based Electrical Sensor for the Highly Sensitive Diltiazem HCl Quantification in its Pharmaceutical Products and Biological Samples

Diltiazem (DTZ) hydrochloride, a calcium channel blocker compound, is a very well-known drug used by many clinicians to treat important diseases playing a role in increased morbidity and mortality among adults worldwide, namely hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, and ischemic heart disease (angina pectoris). These diseases are a common public health concern, implying that the construction of a specific, accurate, and simple sensor for DTZ determination is needed. Herein, an innovative, portable, and sensitive modified carbon paste electrode (MCPE) was seamlessly developed based on the affordable green compound N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as a sensing material and tricresyl phosphate as a solvent mediator for the voltammetric determination of DTZ. The proposed NBS-MCPE exhibited an excellent electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of DTZ molecules in a phosphate buffer solution of pH 5.0 in presence of 20 μM sodium dodecyl sulfate to improve the developed sensor performance. The sensor was found to respond linearly to the DTZ drug over a wide concentration ranging from 1 μM to 300 μM with a low limit of detection. LSV and EIS measurements were also used to scrutinize our sensor, in addition to using scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis techniques for its surface morphology inspection before and after soaking in the drug-containing solution. The applicability of the proposed sensor for the rapid, sensitive, and selective determination of DTZ in pharmaceutical preparation and human urine samples was assessed and the obtained results were compared with that of the reported HPLC analytical method.     

Glucose biosensor based on immobilization of glucose oxidase in platinum nanoparticles/graphene/chitosan nanocomposite film

The bionanocomposite film consisting of glucose oxidase/Pt/functional graphene sheets/chitosan (GOD/Pt/FGS/chitosan) for glucose sensing is described. With the electrocatalytic synergy of FGS and Pt nanoparticles to hydrogen peroxide, a sensitive biosensor with a detection limit of 0.6 μM glucose was achieved. The biosensor also has good reproducibility, long-term stability and negligible interfering signals from ascorbic acid and uric acid comparing with the response to glucose. The large surface area and good electrical conductivity of graphene suggests that graphene is a potential candidate as a sensor material. The hybrid nanocomposite glucose sensor provides new opportunity for clinical diagnosis and point-of-care applications.     

A Simple and Renewable Nanoporous Gold‐based Electrochemical Sensor for Bisphenol A Detection

A sensitive and simple electrochemical sensor based on nanoporous gold (NPG) was developed for the detection of bisphenol A (BPA). NPG was prepared by the dealloying method. The NPG modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) displayed excellent catalytic activity towards the electrooxidation of BPA. The mechanism of the electrooxidation of BPA on NPG/GCE sensor was inferred. The sensor showed a linear range from 0.1 μM to 50 μM with a detection limit of 12.1 nM BPA. Specially, a simple but effective approach was attempted to renew the used sensor. The application of the sensor for real sample analysis was demonstrated.     

N-Doped Carbon Coated TiC Nanofiber Arrays on Ti-6Al-4V for Sensitive Electrochemical Determination of Cr(VI)

A sensitive electrochemical sensor for Cr(VI) detection based on N-doped carbon coated TiC nanofiber arrays (TiC@CNx NFAs) is reported. The abundant electrocatalytic active sites contained CNx shell, highly conducting TiC core, and good electrical contact between the TiC@CNx and underlying Ti alloy endow this electrode with the excellent electrochemical sensing properties. The developed electrochemical sensor shows remarkable determination activity towards Cr(VI) with a high sensitivity of 0.88 μA μM⁻¹ cm⁻², a low detection limit of 4.0 nM (S/N=3), a wide linear range from 0.2 to 24.1 μM, good selectivity and anti-interference property.     

Novel sulfate ion-selective polymeric membrane electrode based on a derivative of pyrilium perchlorate

A sulfate ion-selective PVC membrane sensor based on 4-(4-bromophenyl)-2,6-diphenylpyrilium perchlorate (BDPP) as a novel sensing material is successfully developed. The electrode shows a good selectivity for sulfate ion with respect to common organic and inorganic anions. The sensor exhibits a good linear response with slope of -28.9+/-0.5 mV per decade over the concentration range of 1.0x10(-6)-1.0x10(-2) M, and a detection limit of 8.0x10(-7) M of SO(4)(2-) ions. The electrode response is independent of pH in the range of 4.0-9.0. The proposed sensor was applied as an indicator electrode in potentiometric titration of sulfate and barium ions, and to the determination of zinc in zinc sulfate tablets.     

Metallic Free Carbon Nanotube Cluster Modified Screen Printed Electrodes for the Sensing of Nicotine in Artificial Saliva

We demonstrate that metallic free carbon nanotube cluster modified screen printed electrodes provide an advantageous sensing methodology for nicotine. The electrochemical oxidation of nicotine is possible at low potentials compared to other commercially available carbon electrodes. Using the carbon nanotube cluster modified screen printed electrodes a detection range of 10 to 1000 μM is possible with a limit of detection of 2 μM. The sensing protocol is shown to be viable in artificial saliva and is promising as a portable and rapid sensor for nicotine in oral fluid (saliva) in areas such as health/life insurance, instances where smoking is banned and also as a point of care test to help improve smoking quit rates.