The design of metal hydroxide nanosheets
on hollow carbonaceous
nanostructures has attracted immense attention because of their unparalleled
physical/chemical properties with sizeable intrinsic capability to
load specific chemicals. Herein, a novel metal hydroxide based on
hollow nitrogen-doped carbon nanoboxes shelled with a nanoporous copper
hydroxide nanosheet (Cu(OH)2@N–C n-box) was fabricated.
The structure of fabricated hollow nanomaterials was fully characterized
by various physicochemical characterization techniques such as field
emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolu1tion transmission
electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
(BET) method, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction
(XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies,
which confirmed that a complex core–shell structure with ordered
two-dimensional Cu(OH)2 nanostructures on N–C n-box
was successfully prepared. The Cu(OH)2@N–C n-box
is used to fabricate an advanced electrochemical aptasensor to measure
the protein enzyme trypsin. In addition, it acts as an excellent substrate
with abundant functional groups and a large surface area for fixing
and bonding aptamers on the modified glass-carbon surface. Each step
of electrode surface modification was investigated through ferro/ferri
cyanide probe signal changes. The designed aptasensor can determine
trypsin in a linear concentration between 10 to 80 pg/mL and 10 to
80 ng/mL with a detection limit of 3 pg/mL. The proposed system also
has a desirable selectivity in the presence of different interferences.
This is the first report on the rational design of hollow carbonaceous
materials hybridized Cu(OH)2 for the electrochemical application.