Deep eutectic solvents synthesis of perovskite type cerium aluminate embedded carbon nitride catalyst: High-sensitive amperometric platform for sensing of glucose in biological fluids

Terbium Vanadate Nanowires-Based Electrochemical Sensors for Mercury Ions

Terbium vanadate nanowires were synthesized via a facile chemical approach using sodium vanadate and terbium chloride. Morphology, structure, composition, and electrochemical characteristics of the terbium vanadate nanowires were investigated by different techniques. Terbium vanadate nanowires with single crystalline tetragonal TbVO4 phase possess smooth surface and flat tips. The length of the nanowires is longer than 5 μm, and diameter is 40-100 nm. Terbium vanadate nanowires modified electrode was used for trace-level mercury ions (Hg2+) detection. One well-defined stripping peak exists at - 0.34 V at the terbium vanadate nanowires modified electrode in 0.1 mM Hg2+ solution. Buffer solution pH value, deposition time, deposition potential, and standing time are pH = 1, 150 s, - 1.5 V, and 60 s, respectively. Detection limit for Hg2+ detection is 0.18 nM, and linear range is 0.01-100 μM. The proposed terbium vanadate nanowires modified electrode exhibits significant selectivity, stability, and reproducibility toward Hg2+. The usefulness of the developed sensor based on the terbium vanadate nanowires modified electrode was verified by Hg2+ detection in real samples.

Copper nanoparticles/polyaniline/molybdenum disulfide composite as a nonenzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor

A Cu@Pani/MoS2 nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via combined in-situ oxidative polymerization and hydrothermal reaction and applied to an electrochemical nonenzymatic glucose sensor. The morphology of the prepared Cu@Pani/MoS2 nanocomposite was characterized using FE-SEM and Cs-STEM, and electrochemical analysis was performed using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and chronoamperometry techniques. Electrostatic interaction between Cu@Pani and MoS2 greatly enhanced the charge dispersion, electrical conductivity, and stability, resulting in excellent electrochemical performance. The Cu@Pani/MoS2 was used as an electrocatalyst to detect glucose in an alkaline medium. The proposed glucose sensor exhibited a sensitivity, detection limit, and wide linear range of 69.82 μAmM-1cm-2, 1.78 μM, and 0.1-11 mM, respectively. The stability and selectivity of the Cu@Pani/MoS2 composite for glucose compared to that of the potential interfering species, as well as its ability to determine the glucose concentration in diluted human serum samples at a high recovery percentage, demonstrated its viability as a nonenzymatic glucose sensor.

Focus Review on Nanomaterial-Based Electrochemical Sensing of Glucose for Health Applications

Diabetes management can be considered the first paradigm of modern personalized medicine. An overview of the most relevant advancements in glucose sensing achieved in the last 5 years is presented. In particular, devices exploiting both consolidated and innovative electrochemical sensing strategies, based on nanomaterials, have been described, taking into account their performances, advantages and limitations, when applied for the glucose analysis in blood and serum samples, urine, as well as in less conventional biological fluids. The routine measurement is still largely based on the finger-pricking method, which is usually considered unpleasant. In alternative, glucose continuous monitoring relies on electrochemical sensing in the interstitial fluid, using implanted electrodes. Due to the invasive nature of such devices, further investigations have been carried out in order to develop less invasive sensors that can operate in sweat, tears or wound exudates. Thanks to their unique features, nanomaterials have been successfully applied for the development of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic glucose sensors, which are compliant with the specific needs of the most advanced applications, such as flexible and deformable systems capable of conforming to skin or eyes, in order to produce reliable medical devices operating at the point of care.

Biomass derived nitrogen functionalized carbon nanodots for nanomolar determination of levofloxacin in pharmaceutical and water samples

Binder-free and efficient electrochemical sensing of levofloxacin (LF) was successfully developed based on the nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots (NCNDs). The NCNDs were synthesized by hydrothermal carbonation (180°C for 12 h), and the heteroatom was embedded in aqueous solution of ammonia (NH₃). Spectral and microscopic characteristization techniques were used to analyze the topological, crystallinity, and chemical binding behavior of synthesized biomass functional material. HR-TEM image revealed a uniform spherical dot (2.96 nm), and superior quantum yield efficiency (0.42 Φ). The NCNDs was drop coated on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and electrochemical sensing of LF was performed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and amperometric i-t curve in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; pH = 7.0). The NCNDs modified electrode showed a sharp oxidation peak at +0.95 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) with a four-fold higher current response than the bare GC electrode. The NCNDs/GCE surface not only increases the current response, but has lower detection potential, and facilitates electron transfer reaction. Under optimized working parameters, the NCNDs/GCE showed wide linear concentrations range from 200 nM to 2.8 mM and a low detection limit (LOD) of 48.26 nM (S/N = 3). The electrode modified with NCNDs has high electrochemical sensing stability (RSD = 1.284 ± 0.05% over 5 days), and superior reproducibility (RSD = 1.682 ± 0.06% (n = 3)). Finally, the NCNDs modified GC electrode was successfully applied to quantify the concentration of LF in drug and river water samples with acceptable recovery percentages of 96.60-99.20% and 97.20-99.00% (n=3), respectively.

Synergetic effects of Mo2C sphere/SCN nanocatalysts interface for nanomolar detection of uric acid and folic acid in presence of interferences

Till to date, the application of sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride supported transition metal carbide interface for electrochemical sensor fabrication was less explored. In this work, we designed a simple synthesis of molybdenum carbide sphere embedded sulfur doped graphitic carbon nitride (Mo2C/SCN) catalyst for the nanomolar electrochemical sensor application. The synthesized Mo2C/SCN nanocatalyst was systematically characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with elemental mapping. The SEM images show that the porous SCN network adhered uniformly on Mo2C, causing a loss of crystallinity in the diffractogram. The corresponding elemental mapping of Mo2C/SCN shows distinct peaks for carbon (41.47%), nitrogen (32.54%), sulfur (1.37%), and molybdenum (24.62%) with no additional impurity peaks, reflecting the successful synthesis. Later, the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was modified by Mo2C/SCN nanocatalyst for simultaneous sensing of uric acid (UA) and folic acid (FA). The fabricated Mo2C/SCN/GCE is capable of simultaneous and interference free electrochemical detection of UA and FA in a binary mixture. The limit of detection (LOD) calculated at Mo2C/SCN/GCE for UA and FA was 21.5 nM (0.09 - 47.0 μM) and 14.7 nM (0.09 - 167.25 μM) respectively by differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) technique. The presence of interferons has no significant effect on the sensor's performance, making it suitable for real sample analysis. The present method can be extended to fabricate an electrochemical sensor for various molecules.

Wearable Microfluidic Sweat Chip for Detection of Sweat Glucose and pH in Long-Distance Running Exercise

Traditional exercise training monitoring is based on invasive blood testing methods. As sweat can reveal abundant blood-related physiological information about health, wearable sweat sensors have received significant research attention and become increasingly popular in the field of exercise training monitoring. However, most of these sensors are used to measure physical indicators such as heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, etc., demanding a versatile sensor that can detect relevant biochemical indicators in body fluids. In this work, we proposed a wearable microfluidic sweat chip combined with smartphone image processing to realize non-invasive in situ analysis of epidermal sweat for sports practitioners. The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based chip was modified with nonionic surfactants to ensure good hydrophilicity for the automatic collection of sweat. Besides, a simple, reliable, and low-cost paper-based sensor was prepared for high-performance sensing of glucose concentration and pH in sweat. Under optimized conditions, this proposed chip can detect glucose with low concentrations from 0.05 mM to 0.40 mM, with a pH range of 4.0 to 6.5 for human sweat. The ability of this microfluidic chip for human sweat analysis was demonstrated by dynamically tracking the changes in glucose concentration and pH in long-distance running subjects.

Morphological and elemental tuning of BiOCl/BiVO4 heterostructure for uric acid electrochemical sensor and antibiotic photocatalytic degradation

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) consisting of EG-(ChCl: C₂H₆O₂) and TU-(ChCl: CH₄N₂S) assisted synthesized BiOCl/BiVO₄ heterostructured catalyst studied for electrochemical uric acid (UA) sensor and tetracycline photocatalytic degradation. The chemical composition of the BiOCl/BiVO₄ catalyst was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). UV-vis spectroscopy reveals increased absorption of visible light till the near-infrared region, which results in a narrowing of band gap energy from 2.3 eV to 2.2 eV for BiOCl/BiVO₄-TU. Morphology of catalyst analyzed using field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and Transmission electron microscope (TEM) technique. Time-Resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) confirms an increased lifetime of e^-/h⁺ pair after heterostructure formation. The catalyst-modified glassy carbon electrode shows selectivity toward the detection of uric acid (UA). The limit of detection (LOD) is estimated to be 0.04688 μM for UA; also, interference and stability of catalyst were studied. Photocatalytic activity of the synthesized catalyst was investigated by degrading tetracycline (TC) antibiotic pollutants, and their intermediate product was analyzed by ion trap mass spectrometry (MS).

A comparison of conventional and advanced electroanalytical methods to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus: A concise review

Respiratory viruses are a serious threat to human wellbeing that can cause pandemic disease. As a result, it is critical to identify virus in a timely, sensitive, and precise manner. The present novel coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) disease outbreak has increased these concerns. The research of developing various methods for COVID-19 virus identification is one of the most rapidly growing research areas. This review article compares and addresses recent improvements in conventional and advanced electroanalytical approaches for detecting COVID-19 virus. The popular conventional methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), serology test, and computed tomography (CT) scan with artificial intelligence require specialized equipment, hours of processing, and specially trained staff. Many researchers, on the other hand, focused on the invention and expansion of electrochemical and/or bio sensors to detect SARS-CoV-2, demonstrating that they could show a significant role in COVID-19 disease control. We attempted to meticulously summarize recent advancements, compare conventional and electroanalytical approaches, and ultimately discuss future prospective in the field. We hope that this review will be helpful to researchers who are interested in this interdisciplinary field and desire to develop more innovative virus detection methods.

Colloidal synthesis of perovskite-type lanthanum aluminate incorporated graphene oxide composites: Electrochemical detection of nitrite in meat extract and drinking water

A novel electrochemical method has been developed for determination of nitrite using La-based perovskite-type lanthanum aluminate nanorod-incorporated graphene oxide nanosheets (LaAlO₃@GO). Morphological and structural analyses of the prepared perovskite-type electrocatalyst, with and without a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface, were performed using various techniques, including transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Under optimal conditions, the LaAlO₃@GO composite-modified GCE (LaAlO₃@GO/GCE) exhibited excellent electrocatalytic performance toward the electrooxidation of nitrite (pH = 7.0), with a significant increase in anodic peak currents compared with the bare GCE. Using amperometry, the fabricated sensor exhibited a wide nitrite determination range from 0.01 to 1540.5 µM, with a detection limit of 0.0041 µM. Notably, the proposed LaAlO₃@GO/GCE electrode demonstrated a good nitrite detection performance in different meat and water samples. In addition, the LaAlO₃@GO/GCE electrode displayed excellent selectivity, repeatability, reproducibility, storage, and operational stability toward nitrite detection.

Improving Nonenzymatic Biosensing Performance of Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers decorated with Ni/Co Particles via Oxidation

Nonenzymatic biosensors do not require enzyme immobilization nor face degradation problem. Hence, nonenzymatic biosensors have recently attracted growing attention due to the stability and reproducibility. Here, a comparative study was conducted to quantitatively evaluate the glucose sensing of pure/oxidized Ni, Co, and their bimetal nanostructures grown on electrospun carbon nanofibers (ECNFs) to provide a low-cost free-standing electrode. The prepared nanostructures exhibited sensitivity (from 66.28 to 610.6 μA mM^-1 cm^-2), linear range of 2-10 mM, limit of detection in the range of 1 mM, and the response time (< 5 s), besides outstanding selectivity and applicability for glucose detection in the human serum. Moreover, the oxidizable interfering species, such as ascorbic acid (AA), uric acid (UA), and dopamine (DA), did not cause interference. Co-C and Ni-C phase diagrams, solid-state diffusion phenomena, and rearrangement of dissolved C atoms after migration from metal particles were discussed. This study undoubtedly provides new prospects on the nonenzymatic biosensing performance of mono-metal, bimetal, and oxide compounds of Ni and Co elements, which could be quite helpful for the fabrication of biomolecules detecting devices.

Deep eutectic solvent synthesis of iron vanadate-decorated sulfur-doped carbon nanofiber nanocomposite: electrochemical sensing tool for doxorubicin

Detection of anticancer drug (doxorubicin) using an electrochemical sensor is developed based on a transition metal vanadate's related carbon composite material. With an environmentally friendly process, we have synthesized a metal oxide composite of iron vanadate nanoparticle assembled with sulfur-doped carbon nanofiber (FeV/SCNF). The FeV/SCNF composite was characterized using XRD, TEM, FESEM with elemental mapping, XPS and EDS. In contrast to other electrodes reported in the literature, a much-improved electrochemical efficiency is shown by FeV/SCNF composite modified electrodes. Amperometric technique has been employed at 0.25 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) for the sensitive detection of DOX within a wide range of 20 nM-542.5 μM and it possesses enhanced selectivity in presence of common interferents. The modified electrochemical sensors show high sensitivity of 46.041 μA μM^-1 cm^-2. The newly developed sensor could be used for the determination of doxorubicin in both blood serum and drug formulations with acceptable results, suggesting its feasibility for real-time applications.

A disposable electrode modified with metal orthovanadate and sulfur-reduced graphene oxide for electrochemical detection of

CVO@SRG composite was prepared by a hydrothermal method and the voltammetric measurement of an organic compound.