Manganese(II) phosphate nanoflowers as electrochemical biosensors for the high-sensitivity detection of ractopamine

Abstract We report a novel kind of electrochemical biosensor based on Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -like nanoflowers for detecting ractopamine. Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 –protein hybrid nanocomposites were synthesized by self-assembly method, in which proteins such as immunoglobulin G (IgG), bovine serum albumin (BSA), and ractopamine antibody (RAC anti ) play an important role in the production of nanoflowers. To evaluate the efficiency of different biosensors based on Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -like nanoflowers, three kinds of nanocomposites were prepared, i.e., the nanocomposite of Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 and IgG (Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 @IgG), RAC anti (Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 @RAC anti ), and BSA together with Au nanoparticles (Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 @BSA@AuNPs). Different detection approaches were designed and carried out for varied biosensors. Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 @BSA@AuNP and Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 @RAC anti nanocomposites were used as the sensitive layer of the electrochemical biosensor for RAC detection. However, only after RAC anti adsorption onto the Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 @IgG nanocomposite surface, the developed electrochemical biosensor was applied to detect ractopamine. Results showed that these Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -like nanoflowers exhibited high chemical activity and good electrochemical performance. All ractopamine detection procedures were determined by electrochemical measurements, providing extremely low detection limits of 9.32, 4.6, and 26 pg mL −1 for three kinds of nanoflowers. Therefore, Mn 3 (PO 4 ) 2 -like nanoflowers could also be utilized as electrochemical biosensors for various detection procedures in different fields.