Switching on-off-on colorimetric sensor based on Fe-N/S-C single-atom nanozyme for ultrasensitive and multimodal detection of Hg2+

Single-atom nanozymes (SAzymes) as a new class of efficient nanozymes have attracted extensive research interest due to their high catalytic activity and specificity. However, it is challenging to develop a novel nanoenzyme with high activity, good stability and reproducibility. In this paper, the nitrogen and sulfur coordinated Fe-N/S-C SAzymes were synthesized using peanuts shells as carbon, nitrogen and sulfur source. It shows high oxidase-like activities due to the doping of S induced geometric and electronic effects, which is further confirmed by density functional theory calculations. The prepared Fe-N/S-C SAzymes with the remarkable oxidase-mimicking activity could oxidize TMB to blue oxTMB, but the GSH can inhibit the oxidation of TMB resulting in blue fading. However, when Hg²⁺ is added into above system, Hg²⁺-SH complexes are generated attributed to a high affinity between GSH and Hg²⁺, ultimately leading to blue recovery. Based on this phenomenon, we constructed a novel “on-off-on” colorimetric sensor for the simultaneous detection of GSH (off) and Hg²⁺ (on), and the signal is acquired by various modes such as naked eye, UV–Vis spectrometer and smartphone. The colorimetric detection mode based on a smartphone showed a good linear response from 10 to 80 μM for GSH with a detection limit of 3.92 μM, and for Hg²⁺ with a linear range of 1 nM-10 μM and LOD of 0.17 nM, which is more suitable for routine laboratory applications. More importantly, the proposed colorimetric sensor has been successfully applied to the detection of GSH and Hg²⁺ in real samples with good analytical performance. This work not only provides a simple and cost-effective method to detect GSH and Hg²⁺ but also makes a certain contribution to environmental protection.