Co3O4 Nanoparticles Uniformly Dispersed in Rational Porous Carbon Nano-Boxes for Significantly Enhanced Electrocatalytic Detection of H2O2 Released from Living Cells

Abstract

A facile and ingenious method to chemical etching-coordinating a metal-organic framework (MOF) followed by an annealing treatment was proposed to prepare Co3O4 nanoparticles uniformly dispersed in rational porous carbon nano-boxes (Co3O4@CNBs), which was further used to detect H2O2 released from living cells. The Co3O4@CNBs H2O2 sensor delivers much higher sensitivity than non-etching/coordinating Co3O4, offering a limit of detection of 2.32 nM. The wide working range covers 10 nM-359 µM H2O2, while possessing good selectivity and excellent reproducibility. Moreover, this biosensor was used to successfully real-time detect H2O2 released from living cells, including both healthy and tumor cells. The excellent performance holds great promise for Co3O4@CNBs’s applications in electrochemical biomimetic sensing, particularly real-time monitor H2O2 released from living cells.