Two-dimensional oxygen-deficient ZnO1−x nanosheet as a highly selective and sensitive fluorescence probe for ferritin detection: the electron transfer biosensor (ETBS)

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. B, Materials for biology and medicine Materials for biology and medicine, 2024-01, Vol.12 (4), p.1087-1095
• Main Authors: Rana, Priyanka, Sivakumar Musuvadhi Babulal, Wu, Hui-Fen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry; Anemia; Biomarkers; Biosensors; Blood; Electron transfer; Ferritin; Fluorescence; Fluorescent indicators; Iron; Nanosheets; Oxygen; Proteins; Wavelengths; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 2050-750X; 2050-7518
• DOI: 10.1039/d3tb02415f

Iron proteins are of great scientific interest due to their importance as an excellent biomarker for human diseases. Ferritin (Fe3+), being an iron-rich blood protein, is related to various diseases like anemia and cancer. For the first time, we have developed a highly sensitive and selective ferritin biosensor based on fluorescent oxygen-deficient zinc oxide nanosheets through hydrothermal and probe-ultrasonication combined methods. The fluorescence study showed an intense bluish-green fluorescence at λex = 370 nm, after optimization at different excitation wavelengths. In addition, the fluorescence of ZnO1−x nanosheets can be efficiently quenched due to electron transfer reactions in order to achieve quantification analysis. The limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.015 nM (7.2 ng mL−1) with high linearity (R2 = 0.9930). In addition, the real-world application of the proposed biosensor has been performed on human blood serum samples in the presence of various interfering analytes showing high selectivity and sensitivity with a regression value R2 = 0.9980 indicating the current approach is an excellent biosensor platform.