Gold nanoparticles spontaneously grown on cellulose nanofibrils as a reusable nanozyme for colorimetric detection of cholesterol in human serum

Recently, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are extensively used as peroxidase mimics. However, low catalytic activity, high synthesis cost, substrate-induced aggregation in reaction medium and difficulty in recovery and reuse still remain as major challenges. Here, a novel, simple, spontaneous, and reagent-less in-situ method for the production of AuNPs using dialdehyde cellulose nanofibrils (DACNF) is proposed. AuNPs synthesis time and size were greatly influenced by aldehyde content and the optimal aldehyde content for ultra-small AuNPs (approximate to 10 nm) was 2.1 mM/g. AuNPs@DACNFs exhibited broad-spectrum peroxidase activity and steady-state kinetics revealed their better kinetic parameters (low K-m and high V-max) over horseradish peroxidase (HRP). AuNPs@DACNFs was further converted into paper strip, which served as a biosensor for H2O2 and cholesterol detection. The proposed method exhibited wide linear response in the range of 10-90 mu M and 0.05-0.45 mM, and detection limit of 0.39 mu M and 1.9 mu M for H2O2 and cholesterol, respectively. Great shelf life and reusability were evident by FE-SEM and ICP-OES analysis. The smartphone application "Color Grab" was used to enable the portable onsite detection. The results of cholesterol detection in human serum samples were in agreement with clinically observed values, suggesting the great potential of the probe in disease diagnosis.