Rapid and sensitive colorimetric detection of ascorbic acid using carboxymethyl cellulose functionalized Co3O4 nanoparticles as peroxidase mimic

Herein we demonstrate the synthesis, characterization, and peroxidase-mimicking behavior of carboxymethyl cellulose-Co 3 O 4 nanoparticles (C@NZ 3 ) toward rapid and sensitive colorimetric detection of ascorbic acid (AA). AA was detected by monitoring the quenching of color signal that was obtained from C@NZ 3 catalyzed H 2 O 2 oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The excellent peroxidase-mimicking behavior of C@NZ 3 is evidenced by the low detection limit of AA (0.41 μM) and good linearity in the range of 0.5–30 μM. The method is cost-effective, highly selective, and requires only 3 min to complete. C@NZ 3 exhibited high shelf life and could be successfully used to detect AA in real samples of human serum.