Developing a Fluorescent Hybrid Nanobiosensor Based on Quantum Dots and Azoreductase Enzyme forMethyl Red Monitoring

Background:

Azo dyes are the most widely used synthetic colorants in the textile, food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and other industries, accounting for nearly 70% of all dyestuffs consumed. Recently, much research attention has been paid to efficient monitoring of these hazardous chemicals and their related metabolites because of their potentially harmful effect on environmental issues. In contrast to the complex and expensive instrumental procedures, the detection system based on the QDs with the superior optochemical properties provides a new era in the pollution sensing and prevention.

Methods:

We have developed a QD-enzyme hybrid system to probe MR in aqueous solutions using a fluorescence quenching procedure.

Results:

The azoreductase enzyme catalyzed the reduction of azo group in MR, which can efficiently decrease the FRET between the QDs and MR molecules. The correlation between the QDs photoluminescence recovery and MR enzymatic decolorization at the neutral phosphate buffer permitted the creation of a fluorescence quenching-based sensor. The synthesized biosensor can be used for the accurate detection of MR in a linear calibration over MR concentrations of 5-84 μM, with the LOD of 0.5 μM in response time of three minutes.

Conclusion:

Our findings revealed that this fluorometric sensor has the potential to be successfully applied for monitoring a wide linear range of MR concentration with the relative standard deviation of 4% rather than the other method.

L-cysteine reduced/functionalized graphene oxide application as a smart/control release nanocarrier of sustainable cerium ions for epoxy coating anti-corrosion properties improvement

One of the main limitations for large scale mass production of reduced graphene oxide is the application of some toxic and hazardous reducing agents such as hydrazine and borohydride. In this study, the effectiveness of the l-Cys (HSCH₂CH(NH₂)CO₂H) molecules, as a green amino acid in the GO reduction, as well as its active corrosion inhibition capacity were explored. The l-Cys/GO nanosheets were then modified by trivalent-cerium ions to obtain a nanocarrier with excellent controlled release activity. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and polarization tests were used to measure the smart corrosion inhibition activity of the cerium modified l-Cys/GO nanocarrier in the saline solution and epoxy coating. The results showed that the cerium ions adsorption on the l-Cys/GO nanosheets obeyed a Langmuir isotherm model. The l-Cys/GO sample showed cerium ions adsorption capacity about 66% higher than the unmodified GO nanosheets. Furthermore, the EIS tests results revealed that in the presence of cerium modified l-Cys/GO nanocarriers the improvement in the corrosion resistance of bare steel in the solution phase and coated sample was about 7.5 times (after 24 h) and 950 times (after 40 days) higher than the blank saline solution and the pure epoxy sample, respectively.