Ultrathin C3N4 nanosheets-based oxidase-like 2D fluorescence nanozyme for dual-mode detection of organophosphorus pesticides

Abstract

Engineering efficient dual-mode portable sensor with built-in cross reference correction is of great significance for onsite reliable and precise detection of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) and evading the false-positive outputs, especially in emergency case. Currently, most nanozyme-based sensors for OPs monitoring primarily replied on the peroxidase-like activity, which involved unstable and toxic H2O2. In this scenario, a hybrid oxidase-like 2D fluorescence nanozyme (PtPdNPs@g-C3N4) was yielded by in situ growing PtPdNPs in the ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheet. When acetylcholinesterase (AChE) hydrolyzed acetylthiocholine (ATCh) to thiocholine (TCh), it ablated O2−• from the dissolved O2 catalyzed by PtPdNPs@g-C3N4’s oxidase-like activity, hampering the oxidation of o-phenylenediamine (OPD) into 2,3-diaminophenothiazine (DAP). Consequently, with the increasing concentration of OPs which inhibited the blocking effect by inactivating AChE, the produced DAP caused an apparent color change and a dual-color ratiometric fluorescence change in the response system. Through integrating into a smartphone, a H2O2-free 2D nanozyme-based onsite colorimetric and fluorescence dual-mode visual imaging sensor for OPs was proposed with acceptable results in real samples, which holds vast promise for further development of commercial point-of-care testing platform in early warning and controlling of OPs pollution for safeguarding environmental health and food safety.