NiCr2O4 nanozyme based portable sensor kit for on-site quantification of nerve agent mimic for environment monitoring.

Nerve agents are among the most dangerous chemical known to the human being. On account of an incident by utilizing nerve agents, the fabrication of a cost-effective and ready-to-use device for the convenient identification of nerve agents is needed. Herein, we developed a easy-to-use, portable sensor kit based on NiCr 2 O 4 artificial nanozyme mimic to quantify diethyl-chloro-phosphate (DCP). The synthesized NiCr 2 O 4 artificial nanozyme showed good oxidase and peroxidase-like catalytic activity for the conversion of colorless tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to bluish-green oxTMB. It is recognized that the presence of DCP can assist the oxidation of TMB due to the easy binding of DCP with the amine group of TMB and enhance the catalytic process. Therefore, this mechanism is utilized to fabricate a colorimetric sensor kit for naked-eye quantification of DCP, which gives yellowish color after interaction with oxTMB. Furthermore, the practicability of a portable sensor kit was performed for the quantification of DCP in soil and water samples, and results showed a detection limit of 15.4 nM (3σ method). Thus, the proposed portable sensor kit's naked eye detection paves the way for an affordable and practical platform for the easy-to-use, reliable, and quick colorimetric quantification of DCP for environment monitoring. [Display omitted] • NiCr2O4 nanozymes was synthesized utilizing hydrothermal method, which possesses enhanced peroxidase mimetics activity. • NiCr2O4 nanozymes was utilized as a colorimetric quantification method to selectively detect nerve agent mimic. • Easy to utilized and cost-effective paper based Portable Sensor Kit has been fabricated for on-site monitoring of DCP. • Portable Sensor Kit has shown fast response (<1 min) towards DCP with LOD of 15.4 nm in environment sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]