Electrochemical assisted enhanced nanozymatic activity of functionalized borophene for H2O2 and tetracycline detection

Syed Rahin Ahmed; Masoomeh Sherazee; Poushali Das; Md Shalauddin; Shamima Akhter; Wan Jefrey Basirun; Seshasai Srinivasan; Amin Reza Rajabzadeh

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2023.115857

Electrochemical assisted enhanced nanozymatic activity of functionalized borophene for H₂O₂ and tetracycline detection

Biosens Bioelectron. 2024 Feb 15:246:115857. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115857. Epub 2023 Nov 24.

Authors

Syed Rahin Ahmed¹, Masoomeh Sherazee², Poushali Das³, Md Shalauddin⁴, Shamima Akhter⁵, Wan Jefrey Basirun⁶, Seshasai Srinivasan⁷, Amin Reza Rajabzadeh⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering Practice and Technology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L7. Electronic address: ahmes91@mcmaster.ca.
² School of Engineering Practice and Technology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L7.
³ School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street, West Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L7, Canada.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: jeff@um.edu.my.
⁷ School of Engineering Practice and Technology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L7. Electronic address: ssriniv@mcmaster.ca.
⁸ School of Engineering Practice and Technology, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L7. Electronic address: rajaba@mcmaster.ca.

PMID: 38029708
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115857

Abstract

This study unveils the electrochemically-enhanced nanozymatic activity exhibited by borophene during the reaction of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and H₂O₂. Herein, the surface of the pristine borophene was first modified with the addition of thiocyanate groups to improve hydroxyl radical (•OH) scavenging activity. Then, the oxidation reaction of TMB was accelerated under applied electrochemical potential. Both factors significantly improved the detection limit and drastically decreased the detection time. DPPH testing revealed that the radical scavenging nature of borophene was more than 70%, boosting its catalytic activity. In the presence of H₂O₂, borophene catalyzed the oxidation of TMB and produced a blue-colored solution that was linearly correlated with the concentration of H₂O₂ and allowed for the detection of H₂O₂ up to 38 nM. The present finding was further extended to nanozymatic detection of tetracyclines (TCs) using a target-specific aptamer, and the results were colorimetrically quantifiable up to 1 μM with a LOD value of 150 nM. Moreover, transferring the principles of the discussed detection method to form a portable and disposable paper-based system enabled the quantification of TCs up to 0.2 μM. All the sensing experiments in this study indicate that the nanozymatic activity of borophene has significantly improved under electrochemical potential compared to conventional nanozyme-based colorimetric detection. Hence, the present discovery of electrochemically-enhanced nanozymatic activity would be promising for various sensitive and time-dependent colorimetric sensor development initiatives in the future.

Keywords: Borophene; Colorimetric detection; H(2)O(2); Nanozyme; Paper-based assay; Tetracyclines.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Biosensing Techniques* / methods
Colorimetry / methods
Hydrogen Peroxide*
Peroxidase
Tetracycline
Tetracyclines

Substances

Hydrogen Peroxide
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Tetracycline
Tetracyclines
3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine
Peroxidase