Fe-N-C Single-Atom Catalyst Coupling with Pt Clusters Boosts Peroxidase-like Activity for Cascade-Amplified Colorimetric Immunoassay

Although single-atom catalysts with high enzyme-like activities have been found, the rational design of highly active peroxidase (POD)-like nanozymes is still a formidable challenge. Herein, highly active POD-like nanozymes were synthesized through loading Pt clusters on the Fe single-atom (Fe-SA-Pt-C) nanozymes. The POD-like activity of Fe-SA-PtC nanozymes is enhanced 4.5-fold and 7-fold, in comparison to that of FeSA and PtC nanozymes, respectively, which is attributed to the unexpected synergistic effect between Fe single atoms and Pt clusters. Based on the outstanding POD-like activity of Fe-SA-Pt-C nanozymes, a cascade signal amplification strategy was constructed by combining glucose oxidase for the colorimetric biosensing of prostate-specific antigens, exhibiting satisfactory sensitivity, high selectivity, a low detection limit of 1.8 pg/mL, and practical feasibility in serum sample detection. This work may serve as a tough foundation to guide the design of superior POD-like nanozymes and expand the application in biosensing.