Electrochemiluminescence energy resonance transfer in 2D/2D heterostructured g-C3N4/MnO2 for glutathione detection

• Published in: Biosensors & bioelectronics 2019-03, Vol.129, p.72-78
• Main Authors: Fu, Xiao-Long, Hou, Fang, Liu, Fu-Rao, Ren, Shu-Wei, Cao, Jun-Tao, Liu, Yan-Ming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2D/2D heterostructured g-C3N4/MnO2; Electrochemiluminescence resonance energy transfer; Glutathione
• ISSN: 0956-5663; 1873-4235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2019.01.010

The energy transfer efficiency, strongly depending on the distance of donor–acceptor pair, is always a crucial factor for the construction of elegant electrochemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (ECL-RET)-based biosensors. In this paper, a novel and efficient ECL-RET in 2D/2D heterostructured g-C3N4/MnO2 was developed using g-C3N4 nanosheets (g-C3N4 NSs) as energy donor and MnO2 nanosheets (MnO2 NSs) as energy acceptor. In this system, MnO2 NSs in-situ grew on g-C3N4 NSs to form the 2D/2D heterostructure, greatly shortening the distance of the donor–acceptor pair (g-C3N4–MnO2) and thus greatly enhancing the RET efficiency. To demonstrate the performance of the system, a signal “off-on” ECL sensor was designed for glutathione (GSH) analysis. In the absence of GSH, MnO2 significantly quenched the ECL intensity of g-C3N4 owing to ECL-RET in this 2D/2D g-C3N4/MnO2 heterostructure (ECL signal “off”). Upon the addition of GSH, MnO2 was reduced to Mn2+ by GSH and g-C3N4 was released from the heterostructured g-C3N4/MnO2, generating a recovery of ECL intensity (ECL signal “on”). Under the optimal conditions, the designed ECL-RET signal “off-on” sensor realized the sensitive detection of GSH ranged from 0.2–100 μM with the detection limit of 0.05 μM. Furthermore, the as-prepared ECL-RET sensor exhibits good performance in the determination of GSH in human serum samples. The ECL-RET in 2D/2D heterostructure provides an ingenious way for the exploitation of novel ECL biosensing systems. •A novel and efficient ECL-RET in 2D/2D heterostructured g-C3N4/MnO2 was developed.•The donor (g-C3N4) and acceptor (MnO2) was integrated into one nanostructure.•A signal “off-on” ECL sensor was designed for sensitive and accurate GSH analysis.•The unique redox reaction between MnO2 and GSH was used as the signal switch.