Intentional hydrolysis to overcome the hydrolysis problem: detection of Ce(<scp>iv</scp>) by producing oxidase-like nanozymes with F⁻

Abstract

Polyvalent metal ions are susceptible to hydrolysis, making their reproducible detection by sensors and biosensors difficult. We herein turned this disadvantage into an advantage to develop a high selectivity colorimetric method for detecting Ce(iv) by intentionally hydrolyzing it through heating, where subsequent addition of F^- recovered the activity, allowing a detection limit of 3.8 μM Ce(iv).