Amperometric detection of hypoxanthine and xanthine by enzymatic amplification using a gold nanoparticles-carbon nanohorn hybrid as the carrier.

A novel gold nanoparticles-single-walled carbon nanohorn (GNPs-SWCNH) hybrid was synthesized for the construction of an amperometric biosensing platform. The GNPs-SWCNH hybrid was stable in aqueous solution for at least two weeks, and was characterized with scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The average diameter of GNPs in situ synthesized on the SWCNH was 5-8 nm, and the good interaction between GNPs and SWCNH was confirmed by ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. The GNPs-SWCNH immobilized on a platinum electrode showed high electrochemical activity toward the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide and uric acid with low applied potentials. Combining with the enzymatic reaction of xanthine oxidase (XOx), a biosensor for hypoxanthine and xanthine was constructed. The XOx-GNPs-SWCNH-based biosensor exhibited good responses to hypoxanthine and xanthine with the linear ranges of 1.5 to 35.4 and 2.0 to 37.3 μM, and the detection limits of 0.61 and 0.72 μM, respectively. The recovery test showed acceptable results. The gold nanoparticles functionalized carbon nanohorns provided a promising way to construct an electrochemical platform for sensitive biosensing.