Although the terminology ‘grafting from’ is widely used to refer the concept where a second material is grown onto the surface of a substrate to form, for example, bidimensional hybrid layers, or a discrete micro-/nanoparticle, in a core–shell fashion, and using materials of different nature, traditionally it is employed when polymeric materials are considered. This methodology enhances the mechanical properties of the final material compared to those obtained by “grafting to” approaches, as the integration of both core and shell is higher thus allowing the fine control of the thickness and morphology. In general, this approach is followed when synergetic or complementary properties are required and cannot be achieved by using only one of them separately. Either increase the conductivity or enhance the optical properties of the MOFs are the main aspects to be fulfilled in the development of a biosensor. This section is distributed according to the nature of the core/substrate, using both metal/metal oxides and carbon-based materials.
4.3.1. Metal/Metal Oxide-Based Cores
Table 6 gathers the most important examples described for this kind of hybrid materials within the last years.
A colorimetric biosensor based on Fe
3O
4@MIL-88(Fe) was prepared by Zhang and colleagues to determine glutathione in serum samples [
121]. For this purpose, mercaptoacetic acid-modified magnetic nanoparticles were mixed with the precursors, FeCl
3 and TPA, in DMF and in the presence of NaOH to deprotonate the carboxylic acid moieties of the linker and enhance the interaction of the carboxylates with iron clusters. The material was suspended in a solution containing glutathione, H
2O
2 and methylene blue as indicator in a Fenton-like reaction. After removing the material with an external magnet, the UV–vis spectrum of the solution was acquired. Since the strict point of view of a biosensor definition, the material is not participating here neither as a receptor nor as transducer but this example highlights the importance of preparing core–shell materials to accelerate the overall process. The assay required 1 h according to the incubation steps and yielded a LOD of 36.9 nM with a DR of 0.55–3 μM.
Using also magnetic nanoparticles as cores, a highly engineered material was prepared for the fabrication of a fluorescence biosensor selective to ochratoxin A (OTA), with its successful application to quantify the mycotoxin in corn samples [
122]. Fe
3O
4 nanoparticles were suspended in a mixture 1:1 (
v/
v) EtOH:H
2O containing Cu(NO
3)
2, BTC and graphitic g-C
3N
4. After the solvothermal synthesis, the material was loaded with a FAM-labelled aptamer and further incubated with solutions containing different concentrations of the analyte. It is worth mentioning that the material itself participates only as a support for the controlled release of the aptamer, that shows higher affinity constants towards to the analyte than for the hybrid material. The high selectivity of the recognition element resulted in negligible cross-reactivity to other mycotoxins and the biosensor proposed yielded a LOD of 2.57 ng/mL with a DR of 5–160 ng/mL. The repeatability studies showed 2.5% RSD within six measurements and recoveries in real samples of >96.5%. However, as in the previous case, this is a typical example where the material is not acting neither as recognition element nor as transducer.
Based on the peroxidase-like activity of ZIF-8, a core–shell material using CaCO
3 as template was obtained for the development of an electrochemical biosensor for glucose detection in serum samples [
123]. In the first step, a shell based on polydopamine (PDA) was created onto the surface of the previous microparticles showing GO within the crystal structure. A second layer of the MOF material was prepared by mixing a suspension of this composite with Zn(NO
3)
2 and 2MI in a mixture EtOH:H
2O. The hybrid material, showing magnetic properties, was mixed with a suspension of reduced rGO nanosheets and the core material was etched by acidic treatment, resulting in GO/PDA/
[email protected] hollow microcapsules. The final composite was deposited onto the surface of a GCE electrode and further used for glucose sensing. Glucose diffuses inside the microcapsules and is reduced by GO to produce H
2O
2, species that are in turn reduced by ZIF-8 as a consequence of its mimetic horseradish peroxidase activity where graphene nanosheets enhance the electron exchange between the MOF and the electrode. A DR of 1 μM–3.6 mM and LOD of 0.333 μM was obtained. None of the potential interferents investigated caused any notable response on the biosensor and the signal was stable after 25 consecutive cycles, with a reproducibility between different batches of 2.5% RSD. Moreover, after 15 days the response was 95% the initial signal and the recoveries in serum samples were >92.3%.
The application of QDs is also widely reported for the fabrication of luminescent biosensors based on their fluorescence quenching when used as cores. Wang et al. used this approach to elaborate a biosensor for the selective detection of H
2O
2 and, indirectly, for the quantification of urate and glucose oxidase [
124]. A suspension of PVP-coated CdTe QDs in water was mixed with the MOF precursors, Zn(NO
3)
2 and 2MI. Due to the size-selective permeability shown by ZIF-8 towards to H
2O
2, both oxidases and substrate had very little effect on the fluorescence quenching of the QD. The hybrid material was mixed with urate or glucose oxidase and in the presence of uric acid or glucose, respectively, these molecules were reduced in an enzymatic reaction to produce H
2O
2, that was monitored with a DR of 1–100 nM and a LOD of 0.29 nM and recoveries larger than 97.2%. The biosensor also provided the possibility to quantify the amount of urate oxidase (DR: 0.1–50 U/L; LOD: 0.024 U/L) and glucose oxidase (DR: 1–100 U/L; LOD: 0.26 U/L) in serum samples. Different amino acids and ions that could be considered as potential interfering species were tested without a significant change on the fluorescence of the material, showing a good repeatability after seven measurement days. However, the reproducibility between different batches was not tested in this work.
A ternary up-conversion nanoparticles-based
[email protected]@MIP hybrid material was prepared by Guo and colleagues for the development of a fluorescence-based biosensor selective to bovine hemoglobin (BHB) [
125]. UCNPs were fabricated using Y, Yb, and Er salts and showed emission at 543.5 nm when exciting them at 980 nm, using the former wavelength for quantification purposes (
Figure 6A). These nanoparticles were covered with polyacrylic acid (PAA) and used as the signal reporter. In a further step, a thin MOF layer of HKUST-1 (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) was grown upon the addition of BTC and Cu(NO
3)
2 to a suspension of
[email protected] in DMF:EtOH (
Figure 6B). Over the hybrid
[email protected] nanoparticles a new MIP layer based on
N,
N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) and
N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAAM) was fabricated in the presence of the target analyte in order to confer the selectivity to the biosensor (
Figure 6C). The first monomer was used for the creation of rigid pockets around the template molecule while the latter was used as functional monomer to induce the formation of selective H-bond interactions during the rebinding step, as well as to confer thermosensitive properties to the final material. Herein, MOF played the role of the spectator between the sensing material itself, UCNPs as transducer elements, and the recognition element, MIP layer, enhancing the mass transfer properties of the hybrid compared to those MIP materials prepared in bulk format. The biosensor displayed a short DR of 0.1–0.6 mg/mL with a LOD of 0.062 mg/mL. A cross-reactivity study was performed in the presence of cytochrome c and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as interfering proteins and other parameters affecting the assay, like pH, were also tested. However, neither reproducibility between different batches nor repeatability were tested in this work.
Following a self-template strategy, Zhan et al. fabricated a photoelectrochemical biosensor for the detection of H
2O
2 in serum samples [
127]. For that purpose, an ordered ZnO array was created electrochemically on the surface of a fluorinated tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass. The template was immersed in a solution containing 2MI as ligand in a mixture DMF:H
2O, obtaining a
[email protected] nanotube array in a core–shell fashion after the thermal synthesis (
Figure 7). Under light, ZnO generates holes and electrons and its combination with ZIF-8 allows the quantification of reductive species located within the MOF pores in terms of the current produced in the hybrid system. Although the LOD for the analyte was not specified, authors are able to perform the detection in a concentration range of 0–4 mM. No further studies on the reproducibility between batches or selectivity were tested in this work, that authors attribute to the molecule-size selective ability of the MOF.
An interesting localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)-based biosensor for the selective detection of glucose was prepared by Hang et al. following consecutive deposition of different materials [
126]. The support material used as template consisted of a monolayer of colloid crystals of polystyrene (PS) nanospheres deposited onto glass substrates by self-assembling. The template was covered with a nanometric gold layer using magnetron sputtering deposition. Finally, the periodic Au nanosphere array was obtained after the thermal annealing of the material, calcining the polymer at 900 °C. The array was functionalized with PVP and finally immersed in a solution containing FeCl
3 and BTC with DMF as solvent for the solvothermal synthesis of the polymer, resulting in a kind of core–shell structures attached to the glass support. In the last step, the hybrid chip was functionalized with 3-aminophenylboronic acid hemisulfate (PBA). Incubation of the chips in glucose solutions with different concentrations required 30 min to reach saturation and the variation of the initial signal was monitored with an UV-spectrometer. A short DR of 2–40 mM was obtained, and although other potential interferences did not produce critical changes in the optical signal, the level assayed for all of them was low, 4 mM. Further analytical details such as LOD, repeatability or stability were not evaluated, and the application for real samples was not demonstrated.
4.3.2. Carbon-Based Cores
This last section deals with other possible materials used as cores not described before, those based not only on carbon derivatives such as graphene or nanotubes but also on organic polymers. Some of these examples are shown in
Table 7. Due to their high conductivity, the vast majority of them are applied for the development of electrochemical biosensors.
A ratiometric electrochemical glucose biosensor based on a Cu-MOF was presented by Song et al. [
130]. First, a three-dimensional macroporous carbon (3D-KSCs) was prepared and the MOF was created on the walls of the former material by mixing it with Cu(NO
3)
2 and BTC in a mixture of EtOH:H
2O in a thermal synthesis. The new hybrid material was activated as an electrode and incubated with HAuCl
4 to produce AuNPs after electrochemically treatment. In the last step, the electrode was incubated with glucose oxidase. The concentration of MOF onto the surface of 3D-KSCs seemed to be critical for the performance of the biosensor, finding a LOD of 14.77 μM and a linear range of 44.9 μM–19 mM, being applied for the quantification of glucose in serum samples with negligible cross-reactivity.
Another carbon-based material was selected to growth porphyrinic-based MOF crystals showing mimic peroxidase activity for the detection of H
2O
2 from cells [
131]. First, nanoporous carbon with hexagonally ordered mesostructured was synthesized using SBA-15 silica as template and sucrose as carbon source. After calcination, the ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) material was obtained. In parallel, [Fe
3O(OOCCH
3)
6OH] crystals were produced by mixing Fe(NO
3)
3 and sodium acetate and recrystallized in DMF. Carbon-based material OMC was mixed with a solution containing these crystals, the iron(III)-based porphyrin TCPP as linker, TFA and DMF. After ultrasonic treatment, the solvothermal synthesis was performed and the hybrid material was obtained. It was mixed with Nafion and casted onto pre-treated GCE electrodes. The amperometric current response of the release flux of H
2O
2 was performed when incubating the electrodes in the presence of a suspension of cells. The growth of the MOF onto OMC resulted in less agglomerated polymers than those prepared in the absence of the carbon-based support, yielding more active sites exposed to the analyte. Additionally, OMC improved both the conductivity and stability of the final composite. A linear behavior was observed in the range 0.5–1830.5 μM with a LOD of 0.45 μM, excellent repeatability (< 5.5% RSD) and negligible cross-reactivity towards potential interferences, and with a moderate stability of, at least, two weeks.
An interesting example to create mesoporous MOF materials for the detection of H
2O
2 has been reported elsewhere [
132]. This is an example of the use of other materials as templates, in this case PS nanobeads, to synthesize within its pores the MOF ZIF-8. Polymeric beads were swollen in methanol and mixed with the precursors Zn(NO
3)
2 and 2MI. After the synthesis at room temperature, the composite is centrifuged and calcined in a further step at 300 °C to eliminate the polymer matrix thus obtaining the MOF showing the complementary image of the swollen PS and introducing this artificial porosity. Finally, the MOF material was functionalized with cytochrome c. Then, after mixing the material with Nafion, it was deposited onto the surface of a screen-printed electrode for electrochemical detection using 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) as electron mediator and showing higher activity than that obtained with the native cytochrome c. A DR of 0.09–3.6 mM was obtained, without selectivity towards other interfering species. No further discussion on the recoveries obtained for water, milk, and beer samples was given.
Another example to be highlighted consists on the fabrication of CuMOF-based nanocubes for the development of an electrochemical biosensor capable to detect lactate and glucose in sweat samples [
133]. In the first step, graphene oxide paper (GOP) is fabricated from an aqueous suspension of GO sheets in a casting mold. After the evaporation of the solvent, GOP support material is obtained, further functionalized to include amino groups in the surface and finally electrochemically reduced to obtain graphene paper (GP). Fabrication of the MOF consists of an interfacial emulsion synthesis. The aqueous phase contained Cu(AcO)
2 with PVP as surfactant. On the other hand, the oil phase was prepared dissolving BTC in 1-pentanol. Both solutions were mixed and stirred vigorously to form the emulsion, and the reaction started in the interface of the nano-droplets. Emulsion was broken by adding ethanol and the Cu-MOF nanocubes formed a close-packed layer in the interphase of the two phases. Amino-functionalized GP was dip-coated in this mixture and an ordered array of MOF nanocubes were obtained in the surface of the support material. The biosensor allowed the simultaneous detection of both lactate and glucose with DRs of 0.05–22.6 mM and 0.05–1775.5 μM and LODs of 5 μM and 30 nM, respectively. A broad variety of organic and inorganic interferences were tested demonstrating the high selectivity of the developed platform, showing a good fabrication reproducibility, with less than 2.61% RSD, and a good stability after 50 days.
Hou and colleagues proposed a fluorescence imaging-based biosensor with a MOF printed onto the surface of a filter paper and other polymers following the ink-jet printing technique [
134]. MOF components were loaded in the inks of the printer, i.e., Zn(NO
3)
2 and 2MI, with labeled cytochrome c (
Figure 8). In the presence of H
2O
2, the biosensor resulted in a change of the fluorescence intensity yielding a LOD for this analyte of 20 mM and a DR of 20–120 mM. Although this work demonstrates for the first time the possibility of obtaining MOF materials for biosensor purposes using conventional printers, no further studies about the reproducibility between batches were tested and MOF-papers were not used for the analysis of the target molecule in real samples.