Cellulose-Based Strips Designed Based on a Sensitive Enzyme Colorimetric Assay for the Low Concentration of Glucose Detection

High-purity cellulose membranes prepared via a green pathway were used to attempt to enhance their performance of glucose detection compared with that of traditional filter paper. In this work, cellulose-based strips (CBS) for the low concentration of glucose detection have been designed based on a fast, sensitive, and easy enzyme colorimetric assay from porous and high-purity cellulose membranes (CM). Different from the traditional paper-based sensors that were made of commercially available filter paper, the cellulose-based membranes matrix was fabricated by a "green" route in that cellulose was dissolved in an aqueous NaOH/urea solution, and then modified by the sodium periodate oxidation method to immobilize the glucose oxidase (GO(x) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) with Schiff-base reaction. The structure and properties of CM and CBS were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray mapping (EDS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), etc. SEM images showed a porous, interpenetrating structure of CM, which benefited the enzyme immobilization and enzymatic reaction. When glucose solution was dropped onto the CBS, the color change from colorless to blue was only 5 min. The limit of detection (LOD) is 0.45 mM in the linear range of glucose from 1 to 11 mM. Moreover, the CBS had also been successfully used for glucose determination in real urine samples, and the color changes can be easily recorded by a simple camera to achieve the semiquantitative detection of glucose. This work provided a new design strategy for the cellulose-based functional materials which could be applied in biosensors, drug carriers, and biomedicine.