Anderson polyoxometalates with intrinsic oxidase-mimic activity for "turn on" fluorescence sensing of dopamine.

Anderson-type polyoxometalate containing Fe3+ and Mo6+, (NH4)3[H6Fe(III)Mo6O24] (FeMo6), was found to work as an oxidase-mimicking nanoenzyme for the first time, exhibiting the ability of catalytic oxidation of o-phenylenediamine (OPD), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTs), and 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB), which features easy synthesis, low cost, simple operation, and low consumption. Attributed to the nature of FeMo6 and Fenton-like effect, a novel sensor based on two consecutive "turn on" fluorescence was developed for detecting dopamine (DA) by employing the FeMo6-OPD system, and the linear range was from 1 to 100 μM with the detection limit 0.0227 μM (3σ/s). Moreover, to increase oxidase-mimic activity of FeMo6, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) loading FeMo6 composites (FeMo6@rGO (n), n = 5%, 10%, 15%) was fabricated, and results show that oxidase-like activities of FeMo6@rGO (n) are dependent on the mass ratio of FeMo6/rGO, and FeMo6@rGO (10%) exhibits the highest oxidase-mimic activity and the fastest respond time (4 min) among all reported oxidase mimic of DA to date. Graphical abstract Anderson-type Mo-POMs FeMo6 was found to work as an oxidase-mimicking nanoenzyme for the first time and was used to detect DA for two consecutive "turn on" fluorescence sensor modes.