Controlled-synthesis of alumina-graphene oxide nanocomposite coupled with DNA/ sulfide fluorophore for eco-friendly “Turn off/on” H2S nanobiosensor

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a toxic environmental pollutant and crucial gas-signaling agent of human physiology. There is an urgent need for developing a sensitive and selective detection approach for H2S. Herein, a novel turn off/on response approach using γ-Al2O3 nanorods anchored on the surface graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and coupled with DNA/sulfide fluorophore (SF) for H2S detection at room temperature was developed. The fluorescent fluorophore, DNA/SF, remains quenched on the super quencher γ-Al2O3–GO hybrid surface. In the existence of H2S, DNA/SF fluorophore was detached from γ-Al2O3–GO hybrid surface because of the strong physical adsorption interaction between H2S molecules and γ-Al2O3–GO surface. The recovered fluorescence intensity gave direct insight about H2S concentration in the medium. The developed γ-Al2O3–GO/DNA/SF nanobiosensor shows high sensitivity with 75 to 2.5 μM linear detection range of H2S, and a high binding constant of 9.8 × 103 M−1. The nanobiosensor is very selective toward H2S in the presence of various interfering anions and thiols and used for H2S detection in real water samples. γ-Al2O3–GO/DNA/SF nanobiosensor provides a cheap, simple, and highly selective H2S detection method at room temperature.