Bimetallic NiFe oxide structures derived from hollow NiFe Prussian blue nanobox for label-free electrochemical biosensing adenosine triphosphate

We designed and constructed a novel aptasensor based on the porous nanostructured bimetallic NiFe-oxides embedded with the mesoporous carbon (represented by NiOxFeOy@mC) for sensitively detecting adenosine triphosphate (ATP), of which the porous NiOxFeOy@mC was derived from the hollow NiFe Prussian blue analogue (hollow NiFe PBA) by calcinating under high temperature. Owning to the excellent electrochemical activity originated from the metal oxides and mesoporous carbon and the strong binding interaction between the aptamer strands and the nanostructure hybrid, the formed porous NiOxFeOy@mC composite calcinated at 900 °C exhibited superior sensitivity toward ATP determination in comparison with other porous nanocubes obtained at 500 and 700 °C. The proposed aptasensor not only revealed a wide linear range from 5.0 fg·mL−1 to 5.0 ng mL−1 with a extremely low detection limit of 0.98 fg·mL−1 (1.62 fM) (S/N = 3), but also displayed high selectivity towards other interferences, good stability and reproducibility, and acceptable applicability. Therefore, this proposed approach provides a promising platform for ultra-sensitive detection of ATP, further having the potential applications on diagnosis of ATP-related diseases.