Issue 24, 2021

Construction of electrochemical immunosensors based on redox hydrogels for ultrasensitive detection of carcinoembryonic antigens

Abstract

In this work, a novel redox hydrogel was proposed for ultrasensitive label-free electrochemical detection of a carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). The redox hydrogel composed of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), methylene blue (MB), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), and polydopamine-reduced graphene oxide-gold nanoparticles (PDA–rGO–AuNPs) was formed by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions among these components. The larger surface to volume ratio, outstanding hydrophilicity, excellent film-forming ability and the gelatinization of CNCs provided the premise for the formation of a gel with excellent properties including larger specific surface area (101.05 m2 g−1), better adhesive ability to glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs), etc. The addition of MWCNTs to hydrogel could improve the adsorption of redox MB. The synthesized PDA–rGO–AuNPs gel was integrated into a hydrogel not only for improving the conductivity but also for providing more sites for immobilization of antibodies. The obtained CNC–MB–MWCNT–PDA–rGO–AuNPs gel was then applied to modify GCE and the gel/GCE demonstrated higher stability and exhibited a strong redox performance (current signal appeared at −0.156 V (vs. Ag/AgCl)). The immunoassay platform was constructed after the gel/GCE was incubated with anti-CEA and blocked by bovine serum albumin (BSA) in succession. The proposed immunosensor exhibited a wider linear range from 1 fg mL−1 to 200 ng mL−1 with an ultralow detection limit of 0.011 fg mL−1 (at a signal to noise ratio of 3). Furthermore, the immunosensor demonstrated higher selectivity, excellent reproducibility, remarkable stability, and better reliability for real sample analysis, which implied a promising potential for the determination of CEA in clinical application.

Graphical abstract: Construction of electrochemical immunosensors based on redox hydrogels for ultrasensitive detection of carcinoembryonic antigens

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Mar 2021
Accepted
11 May 2021
First published
13 May 2021

New J. Chem., 2021,45, 10880-10889

Construction of electrochemical immunosensors based on redox hydrogels for ultrasensitive detection of carcinoembryonic antigens

X. Huang, N. Wu, W. Liu, Y. Shang, H. Liu, Y. He, H. Meng and Y. Dong, New J. Chem., 2021, 45, 10880 DOI: 10.1039/D1NJ01282G

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