Texture or Linker? Competitive Patterning of Receptor Assembly toward Ultra-Sensitive Impedimetric Detection of Viral Species at Gold-Nanotextured Titanium Surfaces

Wiktoria Lipińska; Adrian Olejnik; Monika Janik; Mateusz Brodowski; Karolina Sapiega; Mattia Pierpaoli; Katarzyna Siuzdak; Robert Bogdanowicz; Jacek Ryl

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c00697

Texture or Linker? Competitive Patterning of Receptor Assembly toward Ultra-Sensitive Impedimetric Detection of Viral Species at Gold-Nanotextured Titanium Surfaces

J Phys Chem C Nanomater Interfaces. 2023 May 10;127(20):9584-9593. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c00697. eCollection 2023 May 25.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Plasma and Laser Engineering, The Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences, Fiszera 14, Gdańsk 80-231, Poland.
² Department of Metrology and Optoelectronics, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, Gdańsk 80-233, Poland.
³ Institute of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics, Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Koszykowa 75, Warsaw 00-662, Poland.
⁴ Institute of Nanotechnology and Materials Engineering and Advanced Materials Center, Gdańsk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, Gdańsk 80-233, Poland.

PMID: 37552778
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c00697

Abstract

In this work, we study the electrodes with a periodic matrix of gold particles pattered by titanium dimples and modified by 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) followed by CD147 receptor grafting for specific impedimetric detection of SARS-CoV-2 viral spike proteins. The synergistic DFT and MM/MD modeling revealed that MPA adsorption geometries on the Au-Ti surface have preferential and stronger binding patterns through the carboxyl bond inducing an enhanced surface coverage with CD147. Control of bonding at the surface is essential for oriented receptor assembling and boosted sensitivity. The complex Au-Ti electrode texture along with optimized MPA concentration is a crucial parameter, enabling to reach the detection limit of ca. 3 ng mL^-1. Scanning electrochemical microscopy imaging and quantum molecular modeling were performed to understand the electrochemical performance and specific assembly of MPA displaying a free stereo orientation and not disturbed by direct interactions with closely adjacent receptors. This significantly limits nonspecific interceptor reactions, strongly decreasing the detection of receptor-binding domain proteins by saturation of binding groups. This method has been demonstrated for detecting the SARS virus but can generally be applied to a variety of protein-antigen systems. Moreover, the raster of the pattern can be tuned using various anodizing processes at the titania surfaces.