Iron doped graphitic carbon nitride with peroxidase like activity for colorimetric detection of sarcosine and hydrogen peroxide

The successful synthesis is reported of Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu-doped g-C 3 N 4 nanoflakes via a simple one-step pyrolysis method, respectively. Among them, the Fe-doped g-C 3 N 4 nanoflakes exhibited the highest peroxidase-like activity, which can be used for colorimetric detection of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and sarcosine (SA), within the detection ranges of 2–100 μM and 10–500 μM and detection limits of 1.8 μM and 8.6 μM, respectively. The catalytic mechanism of the Fe-doped g-C 3 N 4 nanoflake was also explored and verified the generation of hydroxyl radical (•OH) through fluorescence method. It is believed that the Fe-doped g-C 3 N 4 nanoflakes as enzyme mimics will greatly promote the practical applications in a variety of fields in the future including biomedical science, environmental governance, antibacterial agent, and bioimaging due to their extraordinary catalytic performance and stability. Graphical abstract