An electrochemical sensor for pesticide assays based on carbon nanotube-enhanced acetycholinesterase activity

Analyst. 2008 Sep;133(9):1182-6. doi: 10.1039/b805334k. Epub 2008 Jul 21.

Abstract

There has been urgent demand for rapid, sensitive and cost-effective pesticide assay technologies due to the global attention of environmental and food-safety problems. Acetycholinesterase (AChE)-based electrochemical sensors have attracted significant interest toward this goal. In this contribution, we introduced multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) into our sensor design, where they played dual enhancement roles; first is that MWNTs loaded on glassy carbon (GC) electrodes significantly increase surface areas, facilitating the electrochemical polymerization of prussian blue (PB), a redox mediator for the electrochemical oxidation of the enzymatic product, thiocholine (TCh). Second, MWNTs enhance the enzymatic activity of AChE, as manifested by the decreased Michaelis-Menten constant (K(m)). As a result of these two important enhancement factors offered by MWNTs, our electrochemical pesticide sensor exhibited rapid response and high sensitivity toward the detection of a series of pesticides. Moreover, we demonstrated that this sensor was stable, reproducible and selective enough for detection in real samples.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylcholinesterase
  • Electrochemistry / instrumentation
  • Electrochemistry / methods
  • Environmental Monitoring / instrumentation
  • Environmental Monitoring / methods
  • Environmental Pollutants / analysis*
  • Equipment Design
  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Pesticides / analysis*

Substances

  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Nanotubes, Carbon
  • Pesticides
  • Acetylcholinesterase