Improved the specificity of peroxidase-like carbonized polydopamine nanotubes with high nitrogen doping for glutathione detection

Abstract The introduction of nitrogen heteroatoms into enzyme-like carbon materials is an effective strategy to enhance both catalytic activity and specificity. Herein, we described the preparation of the carbonized polydopamine nanotubes (C-DPANTs) using sacrificial halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) templates. The resulting nitrogen doped C-PDANTs (N-doped C-PDANTs) exhibit solely the peroxidase-like activity owing to the high N doping. N-doped C-PDANTs could catalyze the reduction of H2O2 to produce OH● radicals, which contributed to the oxidation of 3,3’, 5,5’-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrates. Moreover, the catalytic mechanism of N-doped C-PDANTs was further revealed by electrochemical measurements. N-doped C-PDANTs with pyridinic N and graphitic N compositions possess the capability to accelerate the electron transfer, thus facilitating the reduction of H2O2. The application of N-doped C-PDANTs were demonstrated in the sensitive detection of glutathione (GSH) in serum samples. Therefore, the present study provides a facile way to prepared peroxidase-like nanomaterials with high specificity.