In this article, we describe the fabrication and characterization of a sensor for acute myocardial infarction that detects myoglobin biomarkers using chromium (Cr)-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs). Pure and Cr-doped ZnO NPs (13 × 1017, 20 × 1017, and 32 × 1017 atoms/cm3 in the solid phase) were synthesized by a facile low-temperature sol-gel method. Synthesized NPs were examined for structure and morphological analysis using various techniques to confirm the successful formation of ZnO NPs. Zeta potential was measured in LB media at a negative value and increased with doping. XPS spectra confirmed the presence of oxygen deficiency in the synthesized material. To fabricate the sensor, synthesized NPs were screen-printed over a pre-fabricated gold-coated working electrode for electrochemical detection of myoglobin (Mb). Cr-doped ZnO NPs doped with 13 × 1017 Cr atomic/cm3 revealed the highest sensitivity of ~37.97 μA.cm-2nM-1 and limit of detection (LOD) of 0.15 nM for Mb with a response time of ≤10 ms. The interference study was carried out with cytochrome c (Cyt-c) due to its resemblance with Mb and human serum albumin (HSA) abundance in the blood and displayed distinct oxidation potential and current values for Mb. Cr-doped ZnO NP-based Mb biosensors showed 3 times higher sensitivity as compared to pure ZnO NP-based sensors.
Keywords: acute myocardial infarction; biomarker; chromium-doped ZnO; myoglobin biosensor.