Direct photoelectrochemical detection of ethanol in complex biological sample
Wenyan Yan1, Qinle Huang2, Lin Zhou3
1College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products, Institute of Agro-product Safety and Nutrition, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China.
Abstract:
The development of advanced photoelectrochemical (PEC) technology for the direct detection of ethanol in complex biological sample, has become a hot topic. However, the photo-active nanomaterials, which could generate the photo-induced carriers under illumination, are susceptible to biofouling and interference in complex bio-matrices. In this work, the silica nanochannel-protected TiO2 nanomaterials was reported for the first time that enables the direct sensing of ethanol in real fruits and untreated whole blood. The modification of SNC enhanced the sensitivity of ethanol detection by promoting light absorption, electron-hole separation, and surface reaction rate of photo-active materials. Meanwhile, the biofouling macromolecules and interference signals can be effectively excluded due to the hydrophilic properties, size, and electrostatic exclusion of nanochannels. As a result, without any complex sample pretreatments, the proposed PEC sensor can be directly immersed in complex biological samples for ethanol detection, exhibiting a broad linear range (1.775 μM-20 mM) and a low detection limit (1.2 μM), as well as excellent reproducibility and stability. This work paves a new path for PEC sensors in real biomedical applications.
