Sericin-Incorporated Borophene Nanosheets: A Biocompatible Composite Material for Detection of Antibiotics

Borophene, an emerging two-dimensional nanomaterial, has attracted growing interest due to its unique physicochemical characteristics. Incorporation of biopolymers into borophene can be an effective approach to enhance its stability, dispersibility, selectivity, and biocompatibility. However, studies on borophene-biopolymer composites remain unexplored, indicating a significant research gap. In this work, borophene nanosheets were exfoliated via ultrasonically assisted liquid phase exfoliation followed by hydrothermal treatment in a H₂O-DMSO mixed solvent and subsequently combined with sericin, a biopolymer, to develop a borophene-sericin composite. The composite exhibits excellent biocompatibility and functions as a fluorescence sensor for the sensitive detection of tetracycline (TC) and oxytetracycline (OTC) in aqueous solutions, cow milk, and water collected near a pharmaceutical industry. pH optimization studies revealed distinct fluorescence responses: single-signal quenching under acidic conditions (pH 3-6) and ratiometric quenching under alkaline conditions (pH 7-12). At the optimized pH of 9, the sensor achieved detection limits of 1.25 × 10^-6 m for TC and 0.93 × 10^-6 m for OTC within a linear range of 0-5.35 × 10^-6 m in aqueous media. The pH-dependent behavior and sensing mechanism were systematically investigated. Furthermore, MTT assays on Caco-2 cells confirmed the enhanced biocompatibility of the composite relative to the borophene nanosheets.