Dual Responsive Enzyme Mimicking Activity of AgX (X = Cl, Br, I) Nanoparticles and Its Application for Cancer Cell Detection

Chitosan (CS) modified silver halide (AgX, X=Cl, Br, I) (CS-AgX) nanoparticles (NPs) were found to possess dual responsive enzyme mimetic activities. In the presence of H2O2, they were able to oxidize various colorimertic dyes, namely, peroxidase-like activity. Upon photoactivation, CS-AgX NPs could also oxidize the typical substrates in the absence of H2O2. Taking CS-AgI as an example, it was found that the photostimulated enzyme mimetics of CS-AgI NPs showed several unprecedented advantages over natural peroxidase or other existing alternatives based on nanomaterials, such as excellent enzyme-like activity over a broad pH range (3.0-7.0), the independence of hydrogen peroxide on activity, the easily regulated activity by light irradiation, and the good reutilization without significant loss of catalytic activity. The mechanism of the dual responsive enzyme-like activity of CS-AgI was investigated. On the basis of these findings, the photoactivated CS-AgI was designed to develop a facile, cheap, rapid, and highly sensitive colorimetric assay to detect cancer cells. The detection limit of the method for MDA-MB-231 was estimated to be as low as 100 cells, which was much lower than that reported by the method using peroxidase mimetics based on nanomaterials. We believe that CS-AgX NPs with dual responsive enzyme-mimicking activity, especially the excellent photostimulated enzyme-like activity, may find widely potential applications in biosensors.