An electrochemical DNA biosensor fabricated from graphene decorated with graphitic nanospheres

Nanotechnology. 2020 Nov 27;31(48):485501. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/abab2e.

Abstract

Graphene decorated with graphitic nanospheres functionalized with pyrene butyric acid (PBA) is used for the first time to fabricate a DNA biosensor. The electrode was formed by attaching a DNA probe onto PBA, which had been stacked onto a graphene material decorated with graphene nanospheres (GNSs). The nanomaterial was drop-coated onto a carbon screen-printed electrode (SPE) to create the GNS-PBA modified electrode (GNS-PBA/SPE). A simple method was used to produce GNS by annealing graphene oxide (GO) solution at high temperature. Field emission scanning electron micrographs confirmed the presence of a spherical shape of GNS with a diameter range of 40-80 nm. A stable and uniform PBA-modified GNS (GNS-PBA) was obtained with a facile ultrasonication step. Thus allowing aminated DNA probes of genetically modified (GM) soybean to be attached to the nanomaterials to form the DNA biosensor. The GNS-PBA/SPE exhibited excellent electrical conductivity via cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) tests using potassium ferricyanide (K3[Fe(CN)6]) as the electroactive probe. By employing an anthraquinone monosulfonic acid (AQMS) redox intercalator as the DNA hybridization indicator, the biosensor response was evaluated using the DPV electrochemical method. A good linear relationship between AQMS oxidation peak current and target DNA concentrations from 1.0 × 10-16 to 1.0 × 10-8 M with a limit of detection (LOD) of less than 1.0 × 10-16 M was obtained. Selectivity experiments revealed that the voltammetric GM DNA biosensor could discriminate complementary sequences of GM soybean from non-complementary sequences and hence good recoveries were obtained for real GM soybean sample analysis. The main advantage of using GNS is an improvement of the DNA biosensor analytical performance.

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • DNA / analysis*
  • DNA Probes / chemistry*
  • Electrochemical Techniques / methods
  • Electrodes
  • Graphite / chemistry*
  • Immobilized Nucleic Acids / chemistry
  • Limit of Detection
  • Nanospheres / chemistry*
  • Pyrenes / chemistry

Substances

  • DNA Probes
  • Immobilized Nucleic Acids
  • Pyrenes
  • 1-pyrenebutyrate
  • Graphite
  • DNA