Topotactic Conversion of Copper(I) Phosphide Nanowires for Sensitive Electrochemical Detection of H2O2 Release from Living Cells

• Published in: Analytical chemistry (Washington) Vol. 88; no. 15; pp. 7724 - 7729
• Main Authors: Li, Zhenzhen, Xin, Yanmei, Wu, Wenlong, Fu, Baihe, Zhang, Zhonghai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 02.08.2016
• Subjects: Animals; Catalysis; Copper - chemistry; Dopamine - analysis; Electrochemical Techniques; Electrodes; Glucose - analysis; Hydrogen Peroxide - analysis; Limit of Detection; Mice; Nanowires - chemistry; Porosity; RAW 264.7 Cells
• ISSN: 0003-2700; 1520-6882
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6b01637

In this work, we clearly demonstrate for the first time the use of transition-metal phosphides to set up a new cathodic analysis platform for sensitive and selective electrochemical nonenzymatic detection of H2O2. With the help of a facile topotactic conversion method, the noble metal-free electrocatalyst of copper­(I) phosphide nanowires on three-dimensional porous copper foam (Cu3P NWs/CF) is fabricated with electrochemical anodized Cu­(OH)2 NWs as precursor. The Cu3P NWs/CF-based sensor presents excellent electrocatalytic activity for H2O2 reduction with a detection limit of 2 nM, the lowest detection limit achieved by noble-metal free electrocatalyst, which guarantees the possibility of sensitive and reliable detection of H2O2 release from living tumorigenic cells, thus showing the potential application as a sensitive cancer cell detection probe.