Use of zein microspheres to anchor carbon black and hemoglobin in electrochemical biosensors to detect hydrogen peroxide in cosmetic products, food and biological fluids

Abstract

Hemoglobin-containing electrochemical biosensors are useful for detecting hydrogen peroxide through oxidation of the iron ion, but high efficiency can only be reached with appropriate immobilization strategies for hemoglobin. In this work, we combined zein from corn seed with carbon black to immobilize hemoglobin, as proof of concept, and form an electroactive film that could determine hydrogen peroxide within the concentration range from 4.9 × 10−6 to 3.9 × 10−4 mo L−1, and limit of detection of 4.0 × 10−6 mol L−1, using differential pulse voltammetry. The biosensor could also detect hydrogen peroxide in commercial samples of oxygenated water, synthetic serum (physiological and glycoside) and milk. The high performance is ascribed to the large surface area and conductive nature of the porous film that had carbon black and hemoglobin anchored on zein microspheres, according to scanning and transmission electron microscopies. It is significant that a protein from renewable sources (zein) combined with a low-cost carbon material (carbon black) serves as matrix for immobilization of biomolecules.