The photoelectrochemical exploration of multifunctional TiO2 mesocrystals and its enzyme-assisted biosensing application

Mesocrystals, as the assemblies of crystallographically oriented nanocrystals, have single-crystal-like atom structures and scattering features but with much higher porosity than single-crystalline materials, making them promising substitutes for conventional single crystals in photoelectrochemical application. As a proof-of-concept, a series of photoelectrochemical tests were investigated to understand the influence of the differences between them on photoelectrochemical activity. Expectedly, comparing with TiO2 single crystals, TiO2 mesocrystals demonstrated higher photoelectrochemical capability, which provides unique new opportunities for materials design in the fields of solar-energy conversion and catalysis. Therefore, an elegant photoelectrochemical biosensing platform was firstly developed by virtue of carbon nanohorns with outstanding electrical conductivity support multifunctional TiO2 mesocrystals to accelerate the transfer of photogenerated electrons, and then horseradish peroxidase was introduced through the immune recognition reaction for enzyme-assisted in situ generating CdS QDs. The multiplex amplification strategy successfully achieved the ultrasensitive detection of alpha-fetoprotein antigen. Promisingly, the successful application of multiplex amplification strategy affords a rational and practical consideration for the fabrication of new and high-performance photoelectrochemical sensing devices. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.