The development of nanostructured electrodes for electrochemical biosensors is of significant interest for modern detection, portable devices, and enhanced performance. However, development of such sensors still remains challenging due to the time-consuming, detriment-to-nature, and costly modifications of both electrodes and enzymes. In this work, we report a simple one-step approach to fabricating high-performance, direct electron transfer (DET) based nanoporous enzyme-embedded electrodes by electrodeposition coupled with recent progress in potential-controlled interfacial surfactant assemblies. In contrast to those previously electrodeposited mesoporous materials that are not bioactive, we imparted the biofunctionality to electrodeposited mesoporous thin films by means of the amphiphilic phospholipid templates strongly interacting with enzymes. Thus, phospholipid-templated mesoporous ZnO films covalently inlaid with the pristine enzymes were prepared by simple one-step electrodeposition. We further demonstrate two examples of such hybrid film electrodes embedded with alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and glucose oxidase (GOx), which are effectively employed as electrochemical biosensors for amperometric sensing of ethanol and glucose without using any electron relays. The favorable mass transport and large contact surface area provided by nanopores play an important role in improving the performance of these two biosensors, such as excellent sensitivities, low detection limits, and fast response. The matrix mesoporous films acting as effective electronic bridges are responsible for DET between enzyme molecules and metal electrode.

In this work, one dimensional (1D) Ag–Au solid solution nanoalloys were synthesized by rapidly diffusing Ag into the preformed Au nanorod (AuNR) seeds at ambient temperature in aqueous solution. By varying the molar ratio of AgCl/AuNR (in gold atoms), two kinds of 1D Ag–Au alloy nanostructures with a narrow size distribution—AgAu nanowires and Ag33Au67 nanorods—could be obtained in high yields when NaCl and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as an additive and capping reagent, respectively. Based on HRTEM imaging combined with a series of control experiments, it is conceivable that vacancy/defect-motivated interdiffusion of Ag and Au atoms coupled with oxidative etching is a crucial stage in the mechanism responsible for this room-temperature alloying process, and the subsequent conjugation of the fused Ag–Au alloyed nanostructures is associated with the formation of the AgAu nanowires. The resulting 1D Ag–Au nanoalloys form stable colloidal dispersions and show unique localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peaks in the ensemble extinction spectra.

CeO2 nanoplates with a new hexagonal crystal structure (a = 15.30 Å and c = 6.24 Å) and uniform shape were synthesized and used as supports, showing high chemoselectivity for the catalytic hydrogenation of substituted nitroaromatics without sacrificing conversion under mild conditions.

A series of unique nanowire superstructures, Cu2O nanowire polyhedra, have been synthesized through a cost-effective hydrothermal route. Three types of nanowire polyhedra, namely octahedra, concave octahedra, and hexapods, were formed in high morphological yields (90%) by reducing cupric acetate with o-anisidine or o-phenetidine in the presence of carboxylic acids. The architectures of these Cu2O nanowire polyhedra were examined by electron microscopy, which revealed ordered, highly aligned Cu2O nanowires within the polyhedral outlines. The growth of the Cu2O nanowire polyhedra is controlled by the orientation and growth rates of the nanowire branches which are adjusted by addition of carboxylic acids. Compared to the Cu2O samples reported in the recent literature, the Cu2O nanowire octahedra exhibit notably enhanced photocatalytic activities for dye degradation in the presence of H2O2 under visible light, probably due to the high-density charge carriers photoexcited from the branched nanowires with their special structures. Additionally, the discussion in the recent literature of the photocatalytic activity of Cu2O in the absence of H2O2 for direct photodegradation of dyes seems questionable.

CeO2 nanoplates with a new hexagonal crystal structure (a = 15.30 Å and c = 6.24 Å) and uniform shape were synthesized and used as supports, showing high chemoselectivity for the catalytic hydrogenation of substituted nitroaromatics without sacrificing conversion under mild conditions.