Peroxidase-like activity of microrocket for efficient and directional glutathione detection

Abstract

Glutathione (GSH) is an important reducing molecule in organisms, and its abnormal levels are closely related to certain diseases. Thus, developing a fast and simple strategy to detect GSH, especially in complex channels such as blood vessels, is of great significance for disease prevention and diagnosis. In this work, a novel peroxidase-like catalytic activity tubular microrocket (FeOx/Pt/PEDOT) with efficient propulsion and steerable motion has been successfully developed for GSH detection. The microrocket fueled by H2O2 exhibits strong propulsion for solution self-stirring and effective reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation to GSH color reaction. Combining these advantages, the catalytically propelled microrocket-treated sample can greatly shorten a half time of detecting reactions and realize efficient GSH detection. In addition, the microrocket shows effective directional detection of GSH in a designed complex channel due to its excellent magnetically navigation, which is of great significance in GSH detection in the microenvironment. This attractive catalytic microrocket has strong propulsion, effective direction control and excellent GSH detection performance, which shows great potential in biodetection and biomedical applications, especially in visual detection of vessels microenvironment.