A ternary composite based on graphene, hemin, and gold nanorods with high catalytic activity for the detection of cell-surface glycan expression

A novel graphene-family ternary composite with high catalytic activity has been developed by using simple synthetic methods. The graphene-based ternary composite has abundant positively charged Au NRs, which greatly improved the catalytic properties of the graphene-family of peroxidase mimetics, because of the high electron-transfer rate of graphene and the synergistic interaction of three components. Sensitive detection of glycan expression on K562 cell surface can be achieved with a low detection limit of 10 cells. This finding constitutes a novel graphene-family hybrid nanomaterials-based peroxidase mimetic that is expected to be applied widely in the construction of simple, sensitive, and selective biosensors for nucleic acids and proteins both inside and outside of cells through catalytic reaction of H2 O2.