Sensitive visual detection of norfloxacin in water by smartphone assisted colorimetric method based on peroxidase-like active cobalt-doped Fe3O4 nanozyme.

Norfloxacin is widely used owing to its strong bactericidal effect on Gram-negative bacteria. However, the residual norfloxacin in the environment can be biomagnified via food chain and may damage the human liver and delay the bone development of minors. Present work described a reliable and sensitive smartphone colorimetric sensing system based on cobalt-doped Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (Co-Fe3O4 MNPs) for the visual detection of norfloxacin. Compared with Fe3O4, Co-Fe3O4 MNPs earned more remarkably peroxidase-like activity and TMB (colorless) was rapidly oxidized to oxTMB (blue) with the presence of H2O2. Interestingly, the addition of low concentration of norfloxacin can accelerate the color reaction process of TMB, and blue deepening of the solution can be observed with the naked eye. However, after adding high concentration of norfloxacin, the activity of nanozyme was inhibited, resulting in the gradual fading of the solution. Based on this principle, a colorimetric sensor integrated with smartphone RGB mode was established. The visual sensor exhibited good linearity for norfloxacin monitoring in the range of 0.13-2.51 µmol/L and 17.5-100 µmol/L. The limit of visual detection was 0.08 µmol/L. In the actual water sample analysis, the spiked recoveries of norfloxacin were over the range of 95.7%-104.7 %. These results demonstrated that the visual sensor was a convenient and fast method for the efficient and accurate detection of norfloxacin in water, which may have broad application prospect.

A colorimetric sensor based on multiple elements doped carbon dot nanozyme for rapid detection of 1-naphthol in human urine samples.

The residual carbaryl in crops can cause serious damage to the human kidney and nervous system after entering the human body, which may be metabolized to 1-naphthol (1-NAP) and excreted through urine. 1-NAP is often used as the biomarker for carbaryl exposure, so the intake or leakage of carbaryl can be monitored by detecting the concentration of 1-NAP. Herein, Co, N, P ternary co-doped carbon dots (CoNP-CDs) derived from vitamin B12 were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. CoNP-CDs exhibited oxidase-like activity and excellent peroxidase-like activity, which was attributed to the Fenton-like reaction of Co2+/Co3+ and the presence of pyrrole N and P elements, which together provided multiple active sites for chromogenic substrates. Due to the dual enzyme-like activity of CoNP-CDs, hydroxyl radicals (OH) and superoxide radicals (O2-) were generated during the catalytic process, which could rapidly oxidize colorless 3,3',5,5'-tetramethyl benzidine (TMB) to blue oxidation products (oxTMB). The α-carbon in 1-NAP can be attacked by OH, and the catalytic oxidation process of TMB can be inhibited by the consumption of OH, so that the blue color of the solution became lighter. Based on this principle, a smartphone-assisted colorimetric sensing platform was constructed for the detection of 1-NAP, and which resulted in a linear range of 1.07-37.3 µM and a visual detection limit of 0.68 µM. Moreover, the colorimetric sensing system showed satisfactory recoveries in the detection of human urine samples. The colorimetric sensing system owned the advantages of fast response, strong selectivity and simple operation, and provided a potential strategy for the on-site detection of 1-NAP.

Dual COF functionalized magnetic MXene composite for enhancing magnetic solid phase extraction of thiophene compounds from oilfield produced waters prior to GC-MS/MS analysis.

In this study, a novel COFTABT@COFTATp modified magnetic MXene composite (CoFe2O4 @Ti3C2 @COFTABT@COFTATp) was synthesized by Schiff base reaction and irre-versible enol-keto tautomerization, and employed to establish a sensitive monitoring method for six thiophene compounds in oilfield produced water samples based on magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) prior to gas chromatography coupled with a triple quadruple mass spectrometer (GC-MS/MS). The designed magnetic materials exhibited unexpected enrichment ability to target thiophene compounds and achieved good extraction efficiencies ranging from 83 % to 98 %. The developed MSPE/GC-MS/MS method exhibited good linearity in the range of 0.001-100 µg L-1, and obtained lower limits of detection ranging from 0.39 to 1.9 ng L-1. The spiked recoveries of thiophene compounds obtained in three oilfield produced water samples were over the range of 96.26 %-99.54 % with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 3.7 %. Notably, benzothiophene, 4-methyldibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene were detected in three oilfield-produced water samples. Furthermore, the material still kept favorable stability after six recycling experiments. The adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms as well as adsorption thermodynamics of thiophene compounds were investigated in detail to provide insight into the mechanisms. Overall, the present work contributed a promising strategy for designing and synthesizing new functionalized materials for the enrichment and detection of typical pollutants in the environment.

Enzymatic Protein Immobilization on Amino-Functionalized Nanoparticles.

The immobilization of proteins on nanoparticles has received much attention in recent years. Among different approaches, enzymatic protein immobilization shows unique advantages because of its site-specific connection. OaAEP1 is a recently engineered peptide ligase which can specifically recognize an N-terminal GL residue (NH2-Gly-Leu) and a C-terminal NGL amino acid residue (Asn-Gly-Leu-COOH) and ligates them efficiently. Herein, we report OaAEP1-mediated protein immobilization on synthetic magnetic nanoparticles. Our work showed that OaAEP1 could mediate C-terminal site-specific protein immobilization on the amino-functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Our work demonstrates a new method for site-specific protein immobilization on nanoparticles.

Resonance frequency and mass identification of zeptogram-scale nanosensor based on the nonlocal beam theory.

Free vibration and mass detection of carbon nanotube-based sensors are studied in this paper. Since the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes possess a size effect, the nonlocal beam model is used to characterize flexural vibration of nanosensors carrying a concentrated nanoparticle, where the size effect is reflected by a nonlocal parameter. For nanocantilever or bridged sensor, frequency equations are derived when a nanoparticle is carried at the free end or the middle, respectively. Exact resonance frequencies are numerically determined for clamped-free, simply-supported, and clamped-clamped resonators. Alternative approximations of fundamental frequency are given in closed form within the relative error less than 0.4%, 0.6%, and 1.4% for cantilever, simply-supported, and bridged sensors, respectively. Mass identification formulae are derived in terms of the frequency shift. Identified masses via the present approach coincide with those using the molecular mechanics approach and reach as low as 10(-24)kg. The obtained results indicate that the nonlocal effect decreases the resonance frequency except for the fundamental frequency of nanocantilever sensor. These results are helpful to the design of micro/nanomechanical zeptogram-scale biosensor.

Effect of surface stress on stress intensity factors of a nanoscale crack via double cantilever beam model.

This paper studies the influence of surface elasticity on crack growth for a nanoscale crack advance. A crack is modeled as a double cantilever beam with consideration of surface stress. Using the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory incorporating with surface effects, a governing equation of static bending is derived and bending solution of a cantilever nanowire is obtained for a concentrated force at the free end. Based on the viewpoint of energy balance, the elastic strain energy is given and energy release rate is determined. The influences of the Surface stress and the surface elasticity on crack growth are discussed. Obtained results indicate that consideration of the surface effects decreases stress intensity factors or energy release rates. The residual surface tension impedes propagation of a nanoscale crack and apparent fracture toughness of nanoscale materials is effectively enhanced.