ABSTRACT
Designing unique nanomaterials for the selective sensing of biomolecules is of significant interest in the field of nanobiotechnology. In this work, we demonstrated the synthesis of ordered Cu nanoparticle-functionalised mesoporous C3 N5 that has unique peroxidase-like nanozymatic activity for the ultrasensitive and selective detection of glucose and glutathione. A nano hard-templating technique together with the in-situ polymerisation and self-assembly of Cu and high N-containing CN precursor was adopted to introduce mesoporosity as well as high N and Cu content in mesoporous C3 N5 . Due to the ordered structure and highly dispersed Cu in the mesoporous C3 N5 , a large enhancement of the peroxidase mimetic activity in the oxidation of a redox dye in the presence of hydrogen peroxide could be obtained. Additionally, the optimised Cu-functionalised mesoporous C3 N5 exhibited excellent sensitivity to glutathione with a low detection limit of 2.0â ppm. The strong peroxidase activity of the Cu-functionalised mesoporous C3 N5 was also effectively used for the sensing of glucose with a detection limit of 0.4â mM through glucose oxidation with glucose oxidase. This unique Cu-functionalised mesoporous C3 N5 has the potential for detecting various molecules in the environment as well as for next-generation glucose and glutathione diagnostic devices.