Flexible screen-printed electrochemical platform to detect hydrogen peroxide for the indication of periodontal disease

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammation that seriously affects oral health and quality of life for patients. The hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) can reflect the degree of periodontitis. In this work, a flexible electrochemical H2O2 sensor was constructed by a screen-printed electrode (SPE) modified with a copper nanoparticle-anchored copper-based metal-organic framework (Cu NPs@Cu-MOF) and titanium carbide nanosheets (Ti3C2Tx NSs). Notably, such an SPE sensor has favorable flexibility, which is appropriate for attaching exactly onto the human body with a varied profile. Furthermore, the nanohybrid obtains excellent electrocatalytic activity owing to the high surface area of small Cu NPs, hierarchical structure of Cu-MOF, accelerating electron transfer rate of Ti3C2Tx NSs, and extraordinary synergistic effect of Cu NPs@Cu-MOF and Ti3C2Tx NSs. The sensor possesses prominent sensitivities of 254.9 μA mM-1cm-2 (0.2–26.1 μM) and a detection limit of 84.5 nM. Regarding feasibility, the developed sensor can trace H2O2 release at the cellular level. Moreover, it can distinguish between healthy people and patients with gingivitis and periodontitis by monitoring H2O2 in saliva and GCF samples. Hence, the as-designed sensing platform is promising to serve as an efficient tool for early periodontitis indication.