Metal nanoparticle ornated mesoporous silica: A potential nano-interface for uric acid detection

Abstract

Uric acid is a significant biomarker generated inside the human body as the function of purine metabolism which takes place inside the body. This is majorly reabsorbed by kidney and it also has other vital roles such as pathogenic indicator and possesses the antioxidative and defensive properties. However, when the levels of uric acid exceed inside the body by losing the balance between production and excretion, the uric acid levels in blood and urine will increase significantly which serves as the biomarker for the diseases like gout, hyperuricaemia, diabetes, hypertension and other relative heart and renal disorders. Hence, the meticulous monitoring of uric acid levels become inevitable which leads to the requirement of simple but robust method for its analysis. For the efficient detection of uric acid levels, a post functionalised mesoporous silica material (SBA-S-Au) has been employed as a potential nano-interface in electroanalytical estimation. This material is synthesised by post functionalization of well-known mesoporous silica (SBA-15) with thiol followed by introduction of metal nanoparticles (AuNPs) in their terminal groups. This synthesised interfacing material is subjected to various physio-chemical characterisations to ensure its formulation and electrochemical investigations were performed to guarantee its efficacy towards the detection of uric acid even in lower levels. Fourier transform – infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed its functional groups and elemental presence and the nitrogen adsorption isotherms established its mesoporous nature. This fabricated SBA-S-Au/Nf@GCE sensor exhibited an excellent electrocatalytic activity for uric acid detection with limit of detection value 0.48 μM and very high sensitivity value of 0.0038 μA/μM. • Post functionalised and metal nanoparticle incorporated mesoporous silica (SBA-S-Au) is synthesised effectively. • This aforementioned mesoporous silica has not been used in electrochemical sensing by far and it showed a competent performance in sensing. • SBA-S-Au is employed as nano – interface material for the electrochemical detection of natural biomarker – uric acid. • Real – time analysis was carried out using multi-purpose artificial urine (MP-AU) and surfaced an efficient sensing of uric acid in the specimens.