Copper-incorporated SBA-15 with peroxidase-like activity and its application for colorimetric detection of glucose in human serum

•Cu-SBA-15 materials exhibit the peroxidase-like activity.•The catalytic ability of Cu-SBA-15 is derived from Cu incoporation in the framework.•Cu-SBA-15 is successfully used for H2O2 and glucose determination.•The method show high accuracy and selectivity for detection of glucose in human serum.

The copper incorporated SBA-15 (Cu-SBA-15) materials with different amount of Cu in framework were synthesized, and the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and N2 adsorption/desorption. The Cu contents incorporated into the framework of SBA-15 were measured by inductively coupling plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES). Cu-SBA-15 samples were found to exhibit the peroxidase-like activity, similar to the natural peroxidase. The effect of various parameters such as the content of Cu incorporated, pH and temperature on the peroxidase-like activity was studied. Based on the peroxidase-like activity, the Cu-SBA-15 was applied to the determination of H2O2. The linear range for detecting H2O2 was from 0.8 to 60 mM with a detection limit of 3.7 µM. Coupled with glucose oxidase, the Cu-SBA-15 was successfully used for the determination of glucose with the linear range of 2–80 mM and a detection limit of 5.4 µM. The determination of glucose in human serum showed high accuracy, good reproducibility, as well as high selectivity against uric acid, ascorbic acid, dopamine and glucose analogs including fructose, maltose and lactose.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide