Fabrication of a Tubular CuO/NiO Biomimetic Nanozyme with Synergistically Promoted Peroxidase-like Performance for Isoniazid Sensing

Isoniazid is an antibiotic primarily used in clinical treatment of tuberculosis, but excessive usage can lead to serious consequences such as hepatotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and even coma and death. Therefore, it is critical to exploit a quick, facile, and acute way for isoniazid analysis. In this work, we have demonstrated an efficient electrospinning-carbonation-wet chemistry reaction-calcination process to fabricate CuO/NiO nanotubes (NTs) as a promising nanozyme for peroxidase (POD) mimicking. In virtue of the distinct tubular structure and synergy between CuO and NiO from the mechanisms of both electron transfer and hydroxyl radical generation, a remarkably improved catalytic activity is realized for the CuO/NiO NTs compared with bare CuO and NiO samples. According to the admirable POD-like property, a rapid colorimetric detection for isoniazid is accomplished with a detection limit of 0.4 μM (S/N = 3) and favorable selectivity. In addition, the sensing capability of isoniazid in a real sample is also investigated with satisfactory results. This work offers a novel tactic to fabricate high-performance nanozymes with efficient isoniazid sensing capabilities to address challenges in disease treatment efficacy and public safety monitoring.