Synthesis of mesoporous multiwall ZnO nanotubes by replicating silk and application for enzymatic biosensor.

A facial biotemplate-directed synthetic route for fabricating mesoporous multiwall ZnO nanotubes (ZnO-MMNTs) was proposed. Owing to the mesoporous multiwall based matrix, one dimensional (1D) tubes based channels and high isoelectric point (IEP), the prepared ZnO-MMNTs are wonderful platform to immobilize glucose oxidase (GOx) for glucose biosensing. Scale-adaptive cells are constructed to hold enzymes molecules, maintain enzymatic activity and keep stability. The prepared enzymatic electrode (chitosan/GOx/ZnO/Au) exhibits high sensitivity (47.2 μA mM(-1)cm(-2)), very fast response (<2s), quite low KM(app) (1.09 mM), excellent selectivity and stability. Therefore, ZnO-MMNTs are promising material for enzyme assembly and other biological applications.