An origami‑based colorimetric sensor for detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose using sericin capped silver nanoparticles

Abstract

The hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) measurement is considered highly important in industrial wastewater quality assessment, environmental protection, and disease detection. Here, a simple high‑performance paper‑based sensor is proposed for rapid and in situ detection of H2O2. To this end, 3,3′,5,5′‑tetramethylbenzidine is embedded in the sensor to act as a color indicator, whose reaction with hydrogen peroxide is catalyzed by a silver nanozyme modified by sericin. The result of the reaction clarified by the appearance of blue color in the sensor detection zone is received by a portable scanner, while also calculating its intensity by image analysis software. This method is sensitive to hydrogen peroxide in the concentration range of 0.5‒240 mg/dL, providing a detection limit of 0.15 mg/dL. The ability of the sensor to determine glucose is also evaluated by adding a layer containing glucose oxidase enzyme to the sensor structure. A desirable response is obtained in the range of 1.0‒160 mg/dL, together with a detection limit of 0.37 mg/dL. Accordingly, the proposed sensor shows satisfactory results compared to clinical methods for monitoring the amount of glucose in biological samples such as serum and saliva