Construction of urease-like nanozymes for the detection of hydroquinone

In this study, a nickel-doped organophyllosilicate (NiAC) was constructed inspired by the active centre of natural urease, and its urease-like activity was systematically investigated. Subsequently, a catalytic chromogenic system was established for hydroquinone (HQ) detection relying on the specific inhibitory effect toward the urease-like activity. The results showed that the NiAC possessed excellent urease-like activity and maintained favourable catalytic performance across a temperature range of 37-97 °C and pH values of 4.5-6.5, overcoming the inherent instability of natural urease under extreme conditions. Furthermore, a colorimetric detection platform built upon its urease-mimicking activity was developed for HQ determination, an ultralow LOD of 0.33 µM was realized, with good recoveries ranging from 90.65% to 96.38%, and RSD values all below 3.0%, demonstrating high sensitivity for HQ determination. This strategy not only achieves satisfactory accuracy and precision, but also provides an outstanding specificity route for high-performance determination of HQ.