Dual‐Site Trigger Electronic Communication Effects to Accelerate H2O2 Activation for Colorimetric Sensing of Uranyl Ions in Seawater

Abstract

AbstractEfficient activation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) through biomimetic catalysis still faces a major challenge. In this work, inspired by the catalytic pocket of natural peroxidase, Cu single atom (CuSA) and AuCu nanoparticles (AuCuNPs) anchored on nitrogen‐doped carbon skeleton (CuSA‐AuCuNPs/NC) serve as dual active sites that significantly accelerate the charge transfer process and thus achieve efficient H2O2 activation. Meanwhile, the experimental and theoretical calculations show that the well‐established electronic communication effect between CuSA and AuCuNPs results in moderate electronic modifications to CuSA, which promotes the heterolysis of H2O2 and the timely desorption of H2O. As a proof of concept, CuSA‐AuCuNPs/NC show remarkable performance in detecting uranyl ions in seawater. This work provides new insights into the H2O2 activation for colorimetric sensing.