Reduced Phosphorene Quantum Dot Incorporated Flexible Bio-Electronic Device for the Detection of Uric Acid in Real Media

Abstract

Among all developed 2D materials, phosphorene is in notable demand in recent times due to its distinctive electrical performance in biomedical applications. Zero-dimensional phosphorene quantum dot semiconducting material is a promising candidate that initiated a platform for fabricating high-performance electrical biosensors. In this study, we have successfully developed the material reduced phosphorene quantum dots (rPhQDs) of an average size of 2.1–2.3 nm using a simple hydrothermal technique. This material can be utilized as an electrical bio-sensing platform to detect uric acid in aqueous media as well as in real samples such as human blood serum and artificial urine. Biodegradable polymer composites of rPhQDs show unique current–voltage properties. They can be used to fabricate electrical devices that selectively detect uric acid in human blood serum and urine samples in the linear range of 1–5 μM. The corresponding detection limits for aqueous media, human blood serum, and artificial urine are 0.809, 0.5292, and 1.065 μM, respectively. We have investigated the driving force responsible for this selective electrical sensing and found that improvement of ionic movement in the presence of analytes plays a prominent role that can be established by measuring the transport number of the nano-bio-composite film. The device has the potential for successful detection of uric acid quantities in human blood serum and artificial urine.