Yinling Wang

Multifunctional carbon nanotubes for direct electrochemistry of glucose oxidase and glucose bioassay

Polydopamine (Pdop) has recently been shown to adsorb to a wide variety of surfaces and serves as an adhesion layer to immobilize biological molecules. In this work, the multifunctional carbon nanotube (CNT) composites were prepared though the oxidation of dopamine at room temperature and subsequent electroless silver deposition by mildly stirring. The stable immobilization and direct electron transfer of glucose oxidase were achieved on the composite film modified glassy carbon electrode. The resulting electrode gave a well-defined redox peaks with a formal potential of about -482 mV (vs. SCE) in pH 7.0 buffer. The electron transfer rate constant was estimated to be 3.6 s(-1), due to the combined contribution of Pdop, CNTs and Ag nanoparticles with the help of Nafion. Furthermore, the method for detecting of glucose was proposed based on the decrease of oxygen caused by the enzyme-catalyzed reaction between glucose oxidase (GOD) and glucose. The linear response to glucose ranging from 50.0 μM to 1.1 mM (R(2)=0.9958), with a calculated detection limit of 17.0 μM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The low calculated apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (K(M)(app)) was 5.46 mM, implying the high enzymatic activity and affinity of immobilized GOD for glucose. It can reasonably be expected that this observation might hold true for other noble metal nanostructure-electroactive protein systems, providing a promising platform for the development of biosensors and biofuel cells.

Horseradish peroxidase immobilization on carbon nanodots/CoFe layered double hydroxides: Direct electrochemistry and hydrogen peroxide sensing

Carbon nanodots and CoFe layered double hydroxide composites (C-Dots/LDHs) were prepared via simply mixing C-Dots and CoFe-LDHs. The as-prepared composites were used for the immobilization of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) on the glass carbon (GC) electrode. The electrochemical behavior of the HRP/C-Dots/LDHs/GC electrode and its application as a H2O2 biosensor were investigated. The results indicated that HRP immobilized by C-Dots/LDHs retained the activity of enzyme and displayed quasi-reversible redox behavior and fast electron transfer with an electron transfer rate constant ks of 8.46 s(-1). Under optimum experimental conditions, the HRP/C-Dots/LDHs/GC electrode displayed good electrocatalytic reduction activity and excellent analytic performance toward H2O2. The H2O2 biosensor showed a linear range of 0.1-23.1 μM (R(2) = 0.9942) with a calculated detection limit of 0.04 μM (S/N = 3). In addition, the biosensor exhibited high sensitivity, good selectivity, acceptable reproducibility and stability. The superior properties of this biosensor are attributed to the synergistic effect of HRP, C-Dots and CoFe-LDHs, which has been proved by investigating their electrochemical response to H2O2. Thus the C-Dots and LDHs composites provide a promising platform for the immobilization of redox enzymes and construction of sensitive biosensors.

Bifunctional polydopamine@Fe3O4 core–shell nanoparticles for electrochemical determination of lead(II) and cadmium(II)

The present paper has focused on the potential application of the bifunctional polydopamine@Fe3O4 core-shell nanoparticles for development of a simple, stable and highly selective electrochemical method for metal ions monitoring in real samples. The electrochemical method is based on electrochemical preconcentration/reduction of metal ions onto a polydopamine@Fe3O4 modified magnetic glassy carbon electrode at -1.1 V (versus SCE) in 0.1 M pH 5.0 acetate solution containing Pb(2+) and Cd(2+) during 160 s, followed by subsequent anodic stripping. The proposed method has been demonstrated highly selective and sensitive detection of Pb(2+) and Cd(2+), with the calculated detection limits of 1.4×10(-11)M and 9.2×10(-11) M. Under the optimized conditions, the square wave anodic stripping voltammetry response of the modified electrode to Pb(2+) (or Cd(2+)) shows a linear concentration range of 5.0-600 nM (or 20-590 nM) with a correlation coefficient of 0.997 (or 0.994). Further, the proposed method has been performed to successfully detect Pb(2+) and Cd(2+) in aqueous effluent.

MgFe-layered double hydroxide modified electrodes for direct electron transfer of heme proteins

In this study, the Fe-based layered double hydroxides (Mg(3)Fe LDH) were used to immobilize heme proteins including hemoglobin (Hb), myoglobin (Mb) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) for fabrication of heme/Mg(3)Fe LDH film on glassy carbon electrode (Mg(3)Fe-heme/GCE). The possible role of iron in framework of LDH to promote direct electron transfer (DET) of heme proteins was investigated using an LDH containing non-iron as a reference. Hb was selected as a model protein for studying the electrocatalytic activity of immobilized heme in LDH film. The Mg(3)Fe-Hb/GCE displayed an enhanced electrocatalytic reduction towards H(2)O(2). The biosensor showed a very low detection limit (0.036 μM) and apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (7.98 μM). This work outlines that Fe-based LDH modified electrode provides a promising platform for immobilization of heme proteins and development of sensitive biosensors.

A facile approach for synthesizing Fe-based layered double hydroxides with high purity and its exfoliation

Transition metal (e.g., Fe, Co, Ni)-based layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and their exfoliated nanosheets have great potential applications due to their redox and magnetic properties. Here we report a facile approach for the preparation of Co-Fe LDHs with good crystallinity and high purity. The proposed approach includes two steps: (1) The mixed divalent metal (e.g., Co(2+), Fe(2+)) hydroxides were first synthesized using a homogeneous precipitation without piping N2 into the system; hexamethylenetetramine (HMT) was the hydrolysis agent providing OH(-), and hydroxylamine hydrochloride (HAH) was used as both a reducing and a complexing reagent. (2) Then the as-prepared hydroxides were slowly oxidated by air and simultaneously intercalated by CO3(2-) to form CO3-intercalated LDHs. The Co-Fe LDHs were roundly characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX and FT-IR. The effect of HAH on the morphology and structure of the Co-Fe LDHs was also studied. The magnetism of Co-Fe LDHs at room temperature was investigated and the results showed that the LDHs displayed a low saturation magnetization value of 6.3emug(-1), suggesting that the purity of the products was very high. In addition, the intercalated CO3(2-) in the Co-Fe LDHs could be successfully exchanged with other anions such as Cl(-) and ClO4(-). Furthermore, the exchanged-LDHs could be exfoliated in formamide. This work establishes a new method for the synthesis of Fe-based LDHs with good crystallinity and high purity under mild conditions, and can accelerate the development of applications using these layered materials.

A facile strategy for nonenzymatic glucose detection

Glassy carbon electrode modified with boron oxide nanoparticles supported on multiwall carbon nanotubes was obtained via a facile approach. The as-prepared modified electrode exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity toward the redox of glucose in pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution. The electrochemical response of the modified electrode to glucose shows a linear range of 1.5-260 microM with a correlation coefficient of 0.9986 and the calculated detection limit is 0.8 microM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, which makes it useful for developing the electrochemical determination of glucose concentrations without using glucose oxidase at physiological pH.