Copper–carbon dot aerogel: a high-performance mimetic peroxidase and its application for versatile colorimetric bioassays

Three-dimensional hierarchically porous copper-carbon dot aerogels (Cu-CDA) were fabricated on a large scale using copper as metal nodes and carbon dots derived from adenine and sodium citrate as building blocks. Benefiting from the electron transfer process and generation of hydroxyl radicals, Cu-CDA exhibited a high peroxidase-like activity. Combining the observation with multienzyme cascade reactions, versatile colorimetric bioassays of hydrogen peroxide as well as diabetes-associated glucose and α-glucosidase were explored and then extended to screen α-glucosidase inhibitors that are used as antidiabetic and antiviral agents.