Visible light photoelectrochemical sulfide sensor based the use of TiO2 nanotube arrays loaded with Cu2O

Smartphone-assisted array discrimination of sulfur-containing compounds and colorimetric-fluorescence dual-mode sensor for detection of 1,4-benzenedithiol based on peroxidase-like nanozyme g-C3N4@Cu, N-CDs

Present work reported a novel nanozyme g-C3N4@Cu, N-CDs with excellent peroxidase-like activity obtained by loading Cu and N co-doped carbon dots on g-C3N4 (graphitic carbon nitride). g-C3N4@Cu, N-CDs can catalyze H2O2 to generate hydroxyl radical •OH, which oxidizes o-phenylenediamine to 2,3-diaminophenazine, which emits orange fluorescence under ultraviolet light irradiation. The experimental results confirmed that 1,4-benzenedithiol (BDT) could inhibit the peroxidase-like activity of g-C3N4@Cu, N-CDs. Based the principle above, a colorimetric-fluorescence dual-mode sensor for rapidly sensing of BDT was creatively constructed with assisting of a smartphone. The sensor showed excellent linearity over ranges of 0.75-132 μM and 0.33-60.0 μM with detection limits of 0.32 μM and 0.25 μM for colorimetric and fluorescence detection, respectively. Moreover, a smartphone-assisted colorimetric array sensor was constructed to distinguish six sulfur-containing compounds according to the difference in the degree of inhibition of nanozyme activity by different sulfur-containing compounds. The array sensor could distinguish sulfur-containing compounds at low concentration as low as 0.4 μM. The results validated that the designed sensor was a convenient and fast platform, which could be utilized as a reliably portable tool for the efficient and accurate detection of BDT and the discrimination of multiple sulfur compounds in real water samples.

A portable/miniaturized analytical kit for on-site analysis: Chemical vapor generation-visual colorimetric and smartphone RGB dual-mode for detection of sulfide ion in water and food additives

Chemical vapor generation (CVG) was used as a gaseous sample introduction technique for the visual/smartphone RGB readout colorimetric system, with the advantages of efficient matrix elimination and high vapor generation efficiency, this analytical system exhibits a good selectivity and sensitivity. Sulfide ion (S2-) in solution was transformed to its volatile form (H2S), the generated H2S reacted with a silver-containing metal organic framework (Ag-BTC) selectively, Ag2S was thus generated. Ag-BTC (fabricated on paper sheet) changed from white to dark brown, the color variance was identified by smartphone and naked-eye simultaneously. Under the optimized conditions, a limit of detection of 0.02 μg/mL was obtained by naked-eye. Several water samples and commercial food additives were analyzed for confirming its accuracy and potential application for on-site detection, recoveries ranging 94-110 % were obtained. To meet the demand of on-site analysis of S2-, this colorimetric system was integrated in a portable/miniaturized analytical kit. It is an easy-used, affordable and portable analytical kit for S2- detection in field.

Recent advances in photoelectrochemical platforms based on porous materials for environmental pollutant detection

Human health and ecology are seriously threatened by harmful environmental contaminants. It is essential to develop efficient and simple methods for their detection. Environmental pollutants can be detected using photoelectrochemical (PEC) detection technologies. The key ingredient in the PEC sensing system is the photoactive material. Due to the unique characteristics, such as a large surface area, enhanced exposure of active sites, and effective mass capture and diffusion, porous materials have been regarded as ideal sensing materials for the construction of PEC sensors. Extensive efforts have been devoted to the development and modification of PEC sensors based on porous materials. However, a review of the relationship between detection performance and the structure of porous materials is still lacking. In this work, we present an overview of PEC sensors based on porous materials. A number of typical porous materials are introduced separately, and their applications in PEC detection of different types of environmental pollutants are also discussed. More importantly, special attention has been paid to how the porous material's structure affects aspects like sensitivity, selectivity, and detection limits of the associated PEC sensor. In addition, future research perspectives in the area of PEC sensors based on porous materials are presented.

Ratiometric fluorescence assay for sulfide ions with fluorescent MOF-based nanozyme

A novel ratiometric fluorescence strategy for sulfide ions (S^2-) analysis has been developed using metal-organic framework (MOF)-based nanozyme. NH₂-Cu-MOF displays blue fluorescence (λem = 435 nm) originating from 2-amino-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid ligand. Besides, it possesses oxidase-like activity due to Cu²⁺ node, which can trigger chromogenic reaction. o-Phenylenediamine (OPD), as a common enzyme substrate, can be oxidized by NH₂-Cu-MOF to form luminescent products (oxOPD) (λem = 570 nm). Inner filter effect occurs between oxOPD and MOF. Upon exposure to S^2-, oxidase-like activity of MOF is depressed significantly because of the generation of CuS. On one hand, the amount of free Cu²⁺ decreases, affecting the yielding of oxOPD. On the other hand, CuNPs with larger size are obtained during the oxidation-reduction reaction between Cu²⁺ and OPD, which show weaker autocatalytic ability for OPD oxidation. These result in the decrease and increase of intensities at 570 and 435 nm, respectively. This method exhibits sensitive and selective responses towards S^2- with LOD of 0.1 μM. Furthermore, such ratiometric strategy has been applied to detect S^2- in food samples.

Electrochemiluminescent determination of CYFRA21-1 serum levels using Ti-Fe-O nanotubes immunoassay

Prominent electrochemiluminescence (ECL) in Ti-Fe-O nanotube arrays (Ti-Fe-O NTs) with K₂S₂O₈ as the cathode coreactant is reported for the first time. Compared with pure titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO₂ NTs), this heterojunction could effectively reduce the band gap, facilitate electronic transitions, and move the ECL potential to a positive direction. The ECL performance motivated the development of an ultrasensitive ECL immunosensor for detecting cytokeratin fragment 21-1 (CYFRA21-1). Magnetic beads loaded with conductive carbon black (CCB/MNTs) were used to efficiently quench the ECL signal of a Ti-Fe-O NTs electrode and were combined with an ECL immunoassay to realize sensitive detection of CYFRA21-1. Over a CYFRA21-1 concentration range of 1.0 pg·mL^-1 ~ 100 ng·mL^-1, the change in the ECL signal was highly linear with the logarithm of the CYFRA21-1 concentration, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.114 pg·mL^-1. This ECL immunosensor was used to successfully determine the CYFRA21-1 content in serum. The recovery of CYFRA21-1 in actual serum was 88.6 - 104.4%, and the RSD was 1.4 - 3.0%. The coreaction solution used in this work was PBS (0.1 M, pH = 7.4) containing 0.05 M K₂S₂O₈, the scanning range was -1.0 - 0 V, the photomultiplier tube (PMT) was set to 750 V, and the scanning rate was 100 mV·s^-1.

Visual detection of S2- with a paper-based fluorescence sensor coated with CdTe quantum dots via headspace sampling

A simple method was developed in this work for facile and visual detection of S^2- using a paper-based fluorescence (FL) sensor coated with CdTe quantum dots (QDs) by headspace sampling. With the addition of hydrochloric acid, the target S^2- in the liquid phase would transform to H₂ S, which was released to headspace and quenched the FL of CdTe QDs in a linear manner through a gas-solid reaction, with any possible liquid-phase interference avoided. The regular quenching caused by S^2- in analyte solution with increased concentration could be easily observed by the naked eye, and the limit of detection (LOD) for this method was 0.13 μM and 0.93 μM for FL and visual sensing, respectively, comparable or not to that by other sensing probes. A relative standard deviation of 1.2% was accomplished from seven replicated measurements, implying the high reproducibility, and the recovery for the spiked water samples ranging from 94 to 103%, and illustrating the satisfactory reliability of this method. Moreover, the preparation of this paper sensor was facile and did not require any complicated or time-consuming procedures for additional modification or functionalization as for other probes previously reported.

Visible-light-driven photoelectrochemical sensing platform based on BiOI nanoflowers/TiO2 nanotubes for detection of atrazine in environmental samples

In this work, a visible-light-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing platform was developed based on BiOI nanoflowers/TiO₂ nanotubes (BiOI NFs/TiO₂ NTs) for detection of atrazine (ATZ). The BiOI NFs/TiO₂ NTs p-n heterojunctions synthesized by decorating BiOI NFs on TiO₂ NTs via simple hydrothermal approach exhibit strong visible-light absorption ability, high photocurrent response and PEC activity. Thus BiOI NFs/TiO₂ NTs heterostructures were first explored to act as the photoelectrode for the immobilization of the anti-ATZ aptamer to develop a PEC sensing platform. The design PEC aptasensing platform exhibits prominent analytical performance for determination of ATZ with a low detection limit of 0.5 pM under visible-light irradiation, and displays good selectivity for ATZ in the control experiments. The superior behavior of the sensing platform could be ascribed to the design of the appropriate sensing material with tubular microstructure, excellent PEC response of the photoelectrode, and the large loading amount of aptamer. Meanwhile, the PEC sensing platform was used to determine ATZ in environmental samples and a satisfied result was obtained.

Synthesis and application of a new chemosensor based on the thiazolylazo-quinazolinone hybrid for detection of F- and S2- in aqueous solutions

A new chemosensor based on the thiazolylazo-quinazolinone hybrid (TAQH) was designed and synthesized for naked-eye sensitive detection of F^- and S^2-in aqueous acetonitrile solution. Spectral characterization of TAQH using FT-IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR analysis revealed that the probe TAQH was successfully synthesized using a two steps reaction, including the diazotization-coupling and condensation reactions, respectively. The ion sensing ability of TAQH toward a wide range of anions and metal ions was evaluated by naked-eye detection method and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The chemosensor TAQH displayed a fast and clear color change from yellow to red in the presence of F^- and S^2- ions, enabling easily detect with the naked eye. This clear color change is due to the effective interaction of the basic F^- and S^2- anions with hydroxyl group of chemosensor as a binding site. The experimental data also revealed that the F^- and S^2- ions were sensed by the probe TAQH over a wide pH range from 3 to 8. The results also confirmed that the TAQH has a wide linear detection range for F^- and S^2- ions. From UV-vis titration experiment, the limit of detection (LOD) for F^- and S^2- ions was found to be 3.1 μM and 5.7 μM, respectively. For quantitative measurements, the paper test strips containing TAQH were successfully fabricated and applied to detect F^- and S^2- ions in aqueous solutions. Furthermore, Job's plot based on spectroscopic data showed one-to-one stoichiometry for the interaction of anions with probe TAQH. Therefore, the proposed chemosensor with excellent features like the cost-effective, high sensitively and selectively and short response times can be utilized in any physical and biological conditions.

Colorimetric and fluorescent dual-mode strategy for sensitive detection of sulfide: Target-induced horseradish peroxidase deactivation

Environmental pollution caused by sulfide compounds has become a major problem for public health. Hence, accurate detection of sulfide anions (S^2-) level is valuable and vital for environmental monitoring and protection. Here, we report a new colorimetric/fluorescent dual-mode sensor for the determination of S^2- based on the inhibition of enzyme activity and the unique optical properties of produced 2,3-diaminophenazine (DAP), thus making the analytical results more convincing. In this strategy, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme is used for catalyzing the H₂O₂-mediated oxidation of o-phenylenediamine (OPD) to produce DAP, and the color changed to bright yellow and produced orange yellow fluorescence. But the presence of S^2- could cause the deactivation of HRP, which decreased the amount of DAP and consequently resulted in a substantial SPR band fading and an evident fluorescence quenching simultaneously. The mechanism of S^2- sensor was examined by combining the UV-vis absorption spectra, fluorescence spectra and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis. Under optimal conditions, the colorimetric and fluorescent linear responses of the proposed method exhibited a wide linear range from 2.5 nM-7.5 μM with ultralow detection limits of 1.2 nM and 0.9 nM, respectively. Some potential interferents (such as F^-, Cl^-, Br^-, I^-, SO₄^2-, SO₃^2-, SCN^-, H₂PO₄^-, HPO₄^2-, Ac^-, NO₃^-, CO₃^2-) in real samples showed no interference. Moreover, the proposed method offered advantages of simple, low-cost instruments and rapid assay without the utilization of nanomaterials and has been successfully applied to determine S^2- content in lake water samples with satisfying recoveries over 97.6%. More importantly, the present S^2- sensor not only afforded a new optical sensing pattern for bioanalysis and environment monitoring, but also extends the application field of HRP-catalyzed OPD-H₂O₂ system.

A novel imidazole derived colorimetric and fluorometric chemosensor for bifunctional detection of copper (II) and sulphide ions in environmental water samples

Herein, a novel "ON-OFF" colorimetric and fluorometric chemosensor; 1N-allyl-2-(2, 5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4, 5-diphenyl-1H-imidazole (ADPPI), was constructed for sequential determination of Cu²⁺ and S^2- ions in aqueous media. The interaction between chemosensor ADPPI and different metal cations was investigated using UV-VIS and fluorimetric spectroscopy. ADPPI showed a favorable and good interaction with Cu²⁺ ions producing blue colored solution peaked at 610 nm with blue fluorescence at λ_em. = 447 nm. The produced complex between Cu²⁺ ions and ADPPI can be used as a cascade probe for detection of S^2- ions. The detection limits (LODs) were 1.01 nM and 1.25 μM for Cu²⁺ and S^2- ions, respectively (the lowest between the family of colorimetric and fluorometric chemosensors). To further increase the applicability of the proposed method, Cu²⁺ and S^2- ions concentrations were measured in environmental water samples.

Detection signal amplification strategies at nanomaterial-based photoelectrochemical biosensors

This review focusses on unique material modification and signal amplification strategies reported in developing photoelectrochemical biosensors with utmost sensitivity and selectivity.

A homogeneous photoelectrochemical hydrogen sulfide sensor based on the electronic transfer mediated by tetrasulfophthalocyanine

A homogeneous photoelectrochemical sensor for H₂S detection based on the electronic transfer mediated by [Fe(iii)PcS₄]⁺was developed with an un-modified photoelectrode.

An electrochemiluminescence immunosensor for the N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide based on the high quenching ability of polydopamine

A sandwich-type electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor for the N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is described. The assay is based on the quenching of the ECL of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) by polydopamine (PDA). Two-dimensional g-C₃N₄ is grown in-situ on titanium dioxide nanoflowers (TiO₂ NFs). The macroporous structure of the NFs enhances the interfacial stability of g-C₃N₄, and also promotes the ECL reaction of g-C₃N₄ with the co-reactant. The introduction of gold nanoparticles into the matrix further enhances the ECL and facilitates the immobilization of capture antibodies. The nanoquencher used to label the secondary antibody is synthesized by catalytic polymerization of dopamine in the presence of bimetallic NiPd nanoparticles. The nanoquencher preserves the high reactivity of polydopamine and quenches the ECL of the g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ system. Compared to other methods, the detection limit for NT-proBNP is decreased to 50 fg∙mL^-1. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) process of the immunosensor: titanium dioxide nanoflowers@graphite-like carbon nitride-gold nanoparticles (TiO₂ NFs@g-C₃N₄-Au) as luminophor, and polydopamine (PDA) as nanoquencher.

Recent developments of photoelectrochemical biosensors for food analysis

Recent developments of photoelectrochemical biosensors for food analysis are summarized and the future prospects in this field are discussed.

Photoelectrochemical detection of ultra-trace fluorine ion using TiO2 nanorod arrays as a probe

A photoelectrochemical (PEC) method based on the etching reaction of F ions on the surface of TiO₂ nanorod arrays (TNRs) was proposed for the high sensitivity and selectivity detection of F ions. With the increase of F ion concentration, the surface etching reaction on TNR becomes more intense, resulting in the increased number of surface active sites, the reduction of electron transfer resistance, and the increase of photocurrent density. The prepared TNRs as a PEC probe exhibits a good linear relationship between photocurrent increment and the logarithm of F ion concentration in the range from 0.05 to 1000 nM with an ultra-trace detection limit of 0.03 nM for F ion detection.

A photoelectrochemical (PEC) method based on the etching reaction on TiO₂ nanorod arrays is proposed for detection of F ions.

Photoelectrochemical CdSe/TiO2 nanotube array microsensor for high-resolution in-situ detection of dopamine

A photoelectrochemical wire microelectrode was constructed based on the use of a TiO₂ nanotube array with electrochemically deposited CdSe semiconductor. A strongly amplified photocurrent is generated on the sensor surface. The microsensor has a response in the 0.05-20 μM dopamine (DA) concentration range and a 16.7 μM detection limit at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Sensitivity, recovery and reproducibility of the sensor were validated by detecting DA in spiked human urine, and satisfactory results were obtained. Graphical abstract Schematic of a sensitive photoelectrochemical microsensor based on CdSe modified TiO₂ nanotube array. The photoelectrochemical microsensor was successfully applied to the determination of dopamine in urine samples.