Single-Atom Iron Anchored on 2-D Graphene Carbon to Realize Bridge-Adsorption of O-O as Biomimetic Enzyme for Remarkably Sensitive Electrochemical Detection of H2O2

Single-atom catalysis is mainly focused on its dispersed high-density catalytic sites, but delicate designs to realize a unique catalysis mechanism in terms of target reactions have been much less investigated. Herein an iron single atomic site catalyst anchored on 2-D N-doping graphene (Fe-SASC/G) was synthesized and further employed as a biomimetic sensor to electrochemically detect hydrogen peroxide, showing an extremely high sensitivity of 3214.28 mu A mM(-1) cm(-2), which is much higher than that (6.5 mu A mM(-1) cm(-2)) of its dispersed on 1-D carbon nanowires (Fe-SASC/NW), ranking the best sensitivity among all reported Fe based catalyst at present. The sensor was also used to successfully in situ monitor H2O2 released from A549 living cells. The mechanism was further systematically investigated. Results interestingly indicate that the distance between adjacent single Fe atomic catalytic sites on 2-D graphene of Fe-SASC/G matches statistically well with the outer length of bioxygen of H2O2 to promote a bridge adsorption of -O-O- for simultaneous 2-electron transfer, while the single Fe atoms anchored on distant 1-D nanowires in Fe-SASC/NW only allow an end-adsorption of oxygen atoms for 1-electron transfer. These results demonstrate that Fe-SASC/G holds great promise as an advanced electrode material in selective and sensitive biomimetic sensor and other electrocatalytic applications, while offering scientific insights in deeper single atomic catalysis mechanisms, especially the effects of substrate dimensions on the mechanism.

Automated summary

In this study, an iron single atomic site catalyst anchored on 2-D N-doping graphene was synthesized and used as a biomimetic sensor for hydrogen peroxide detection, showing a high sensitivity. The results indicate that the distance between adjacent single Fe atomic catalytic sites on 2-D graphene matches well with the outer length of H2O2 for a bridge adsorption of -O-O- and simultaneous 2-electron transfer. This research provides insights into the mechanism of single atomic catalysis and the effects of substrate dimensions.