Copper‐Loaded Nitrogen‐Rich Mesoporous C3N6 Based Nanozymes for Calorimetric Detection of Glutathione and Glucose

• Published in: Advanced Sensor Research Vol. 4; no. 2
• Main Authors: Britto, Jolitta Sheri John, Wong, Sharon L., Patel, Vaishwik, Tran, Thi Kim Anh, Perumalsamy, Vibin, Morey, Mukul, Ta, Xuan Minh Chau, Tricoli, Antonio, Bahadur, Rohan, Singh, Gurwinder, Kumar, Prashant, Vinu, Ajayan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.02.2025
• Subjects: calorimetric; glucose sensing; mesoporous C3N6
• ISSN: 2751-1219; 2751-1219
• DOI: 10.1002/adsr.202400149

Biomolecular sensing is routinely implemented in healthcare industries for disease diagnostics. Copper nanoparticles efficiently mimic peroxidase, which is needed for efficient glucose and glutathione sensing. However, bare copper nanoparticles are toxic to humans, therefore, anchoring materials are needed to prevent health hazards. Among the carbon‐based anchoring materials, graphene and its derivatives have already been implemented. However, due to poor C–Cu interaction, copper incorporation is inefficient in those systems, which necessitates the exploration of new suitable anchoring platforms. Nitrogen‐rich carbon nitride C3N6 with edge nitrogen atoms and plenty of in‐built vacancy sites in its lattice, apart from its facile synthesis, low cost, scalable production, and non‐toxic nature; offers excellent candidature for this purpose. Cu‐loaded mC3N6 (Cu‐mC3N6) nanozyme is synthesized employing hard silica template SBA‐15 and aminoguanidine hydrochloride and hydrated copper nitrate. First, peroxidase‐like activity is investigated for Cu‐mC3N6 nanozyme with chromogenic 3,3′,5,5′‐ tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) dye, followed by calorimetric detection of glutathione and glucose. Edge nitrogen active sites in the mC3N6 accommodate higher copper loading, resulting in enhanced peroxidase‐like activity and glutathione biosensing performance with a low detection limit of 0.42 ppm. It is believed that the present research will inspire the development of future‐generation nanozymes. Biomolecular sensing is crucial in diagnosing diseases like diabetes and cancer. Copper nanoparticles mimic peroxidase for detecting glucose and glutathione, but their toxicity poses challenges. To avoid toxicity concerns, the Cu‐loaded mesoporous C3N6 nanozyme is investigated for the first time, which exhibits enhanced peroxidase‐like activity, enabling sensitive, efficient, and non‐toxic detection of glutathione and glucose.