Si
doped CoO nanorods (denoted as Si-CoO) were prepared by the
hydrothermal method. The Si-CoO composites were characterized by X-ray
diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS),
etc. The results suggest that Si element uniformly distributed onto
CoO nanorods with a diameter of 50–100 nm. The as-prepared
Si-CoO nanocomposite possessed an excellent peroxidase-like activity
as well as quickly catalyzed the colorless substrate 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine
(TMB) to be oxidized into blue oxTMB by H2O2 only in 20 s, which was easily visually observed. The electron spin
resonance (ESR) data confirms that superoxide radicals (•O2
–) play a key function in catalytic reaction.
On the basis of the peroxidase biomimetic activity of Si-CoO, we constructed
a new biosensor for detection of H2O2 and reduced
glutathione (GSH) in the range of 1–100 uM with a limit of
0.22 and 0.45 uM, respectively.