Fabrication of peroxidase-mimic iron oxide/carbon nanocomposite for highly sensitive colorimetric detection

Abstract Nanozyme has been one of the most promising artificial enzymes for substitute natural enzymes. The main research focus in this field is developing the nanozymes with high activity, sensitivity and stability. In this paper, prussian blue/polyacrylonitrile (PB/PAN) composite nanofiber was prepared by electrospinning which was calcined to obtain iron oxide/carbon (FeOx/C) composite nanozyme. The structure of the prepared FeOx/C nanozyme was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). The results revealed that FeOx/C nanozyme containing the catalytic active species of γ-Fe2O3 possessed peroxidase-like catalytic activity. The catalytic activity of prepared nanozyme which was influenced by different content of PB and different calcination temperatures was investigated. The optimal PB content in the PB/PAN nanofiber and calcination temperature were 41.5% and 600 °C in this research. The prepared FeOx/C nanozyme possessed highly sensitive detection of ascorbic acid. This research provides a new approach to fabricate iron oxide/carbon composite nanozyme with highly catalytic activity and sensitive for colorimetric sensor.