Highly sensitive and selective electrochemical immunosensors by substrate-enhanced electroless deposition of metal nanoparticles onto three-dimensional graphene@Ni foams

Changrong Zhao; Xiaoli Li; Shixia An; Dongliang Zheng; Shuaili Pei; Xiao Zheng; Yu Liu; Qingqing Yao; Mei Yang; Liming Dai

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2019.07.015

Highly sensitive and selective electrochemical immunosensors by substrate-enhanced electroless deposition of metal nanoparticles onto three-dimensional graphene@Ni foams

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2019 Sep 15;64(17):1272-1279. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2019.07.015. Epub 2019 Jul 17.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Advanced Materials for Nano-Bio Applications, School of Ophthalmology & Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325027, China.
² Institute of Advanced Materials for Nano-Bio Applications, School of Ophthalmology & Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325027, China; Department of Macromolecule Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. Electronic address: liming.dai@case.edu.

PMID: 36659608
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2019.07.015

Abstract

In this study, we have for the first time preformed the facile substrate-enhanced electroless deposition (SEED) of metal nanoparticles onto monolithic graphene@Ni foams for construction of disposable three-dimensional (3D) electrochemical immunosensors. Specifically, we firstly used the SEED method to deposit gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto the graphene@Ni foam for immobilization of antibody (Ab₁). This is followed by a second step SEED deposition to produce silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for electrochemical stripping detection. Using α-fetoprotein antigen (AFP) as a module analyte, the newly-developed sensor showed a wide linear response, ranging from 5.0 pg/mL to 5.0 ng/mL and a low detection limit down to 2.3 pg/mL. The newly-developed 3D-immunosensor is sensitive, reliable, and easy to be fabricated, showing great potential for clinic applications.

Keywords: Electrochemical immunosensor; Graphene; Metal nanoparticles; Ni foam; Substrate-enhanced electroless deposition; α-Fetoprotein antigen.