Selective determination of phenols and aromatic amines based on horseradish peroxidase-nanoporous gold co-catalytic strategy.

Aromatic compounds, such as phenols and aromatic amines, are environmental contaminants suspected of posing human health risks. For phenols and aromatic amines reliable detection, promoting selectivity and sensitivity for phenols and aromatic amines is crucial in biosensor design. Here, a biosensor combined the advantages of both enzymatic and nonenzymatic electrochemical sensors is constructed. Nanoporous gold (NPG) is selected as an enzyme carrier for horseradish peroxidase (HRP) biosensor fabrication due to its three-dimension structure with unique properties. It is firstly discovered that NPG can achieve selective oxidation for phenols and aromatic amines. Thus, the electrochemical reaction on the resulting HRP/NPG/GCE bioelectrode is attributed to the co-catalysis of HRP and NPG. For the detection of catechol (Cat), 4-aminophenol (p-AP), o-phenylenediamine (o-PD), and p-phenylenediamine (p-PD), linear responses are observed in large concentration ranges with high sensitivities and low detection limits. Further, the HRP/NPG/GCE bioelectrode presents strong reproducibility, specificity, selectivity and anti-interference capability in detecting the mixture of phenols and aromatic amines along with a long shelf-life, and the real sea water sample analysis was achieved. These unique properties make the HRP/NPG/GCE bioelectrode an excellent choice for phenols and aromatic amines reliable detection.