A highly active self-assembled nanozyme based on cascade system for dual-mode detection of sarcosine

A nanozyme-mediated cascade reaction system for fluorometric and colorimetric dual-mode detection of sarcosine (SA) was developed. The nanozymes (Zn-Glu@Hemin) were synthesized via a rapid self-assembly within 10 min at room temperature. Importantly, the Zn-Glu@Hemin exhibited strong peroxidase (POD)-mimicking activity, catalyzing the generation of hydroxyl radical (·OH) and superoxide anion (O₂^·-) from hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), enhancing the fluorescence reaction of o-phenylenediamine (OPD) and the colorimetric reaction of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). Thus, a dual-mode sensing platform is created by combining SA and sarcosine oxidase (SOD) into the enzyme cascade system (SA-SOD-POD). The developed sensors exhibited superior performance, with high sensitivity and selectivity for SA detection. The detection limits were 0.14 μM (fluorescence) and 0.26 μM (colorimetric), with detection ranges of 1-120 μM and 1-70 μM, respectively. The system was incorporated into both a smartphone-assisted dual-signal sensing platform and a portable field detection kit, demonstrating practical applicability. Besides, the practicability of the established approach was confirmed in human serum samples with reliable recoveries. This work shows advantages in the synthesis method and detection sensitivity of nanozymes, which can accurately detect disease biomarkers and show high  potential in real-time diagnosis.