Eco-synthesis of graphene and its use in dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide sensing

A New Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Biosensor for Ethanol Detection Based on Gold Nanoparticles/Reduced Graphene Oxide/Polyallylamine Hydrochloride Nanocomposite

A highly sensitive electrochemical biosensor for ethanol based on a screen-printed electrode modified with gold nanoparticles-electrochemically reduced graphene oxide-poly (allylamine hydrochloride) nanocomposite (AuNPs-ERGO-PAH) is reported in this work. Ethanol was oxidized in the presence of the oxidized form of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) in a reaction catalyzed by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) immobilized in sol-gel. The AuNPs-ERGO-PAH nanocomposite was used as a transducer for the electrocatalytic oxidation of the reduced form the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) produced in the enzyme reaction. Under the optimal conditions, the ethanol biosensor exhibits a wide dynamic range from 0.05 to 5 mM with a low detection limit of 10 µM (S/N = 3) and a high sensitivity of 44.6 ± 0.07 µA/mM·cm2 for the linear range between 0.05 and 0.2 mM. The biosensor response was stable for up to 6 weeks. Furthermore, the developed biosensor has been used to detect ethanol in alcoholic beverages with good results, suggesting its potential application in various fields, including fermentation processes and food quality control.

Positively-charged hierarchical PEDOT interface with enhanced electrode kinetics for NADH-based biosensors

Poly(ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) has attracted considerable attention as an advanced electrode material for electrochemical sensors and biosensors, due to its unique electrical and physicochemical properties. Here, we demonstrate the facile preparation of a positively-charged and hierarchical micro-structured PEDOT electrochemical interface with enhanced electrode kinetics for the electrooxidation of NADH. Processable PEDOT colloidal microparticles (PEDOT CMs) were synthesised by template-assisted polymerisation and were then utilised as building blocks for the fabrication of hierarchically-structured electrodes with a larger accessible electroactive surface (2.8 times larger than that of the benchmark PEDOT:PSS) and inter-particle space, thus improving electrode kinetics. The intrinsic positive charge of the PEDOT CMs further facilitated the detection of negatively-charged molecules by electrostatic accumulation. Due to the synergistic effect, these hierarchically-structured PEDOT CMs electrodes exhibited improved NADH electrooxidation at lower potentials and enhanced electrocatalytic activity compared to the compact structure of conventional PEDOT:PSS electrodes. The PEDOT CMs electrodes detected NADH over the range of 20-240 μM, with a sensitivity of 0.0156 μA/μM and a limit of detection of 5.3 μM. Moreover, the PEDOT CMs electrode exhibited a larger peak separation from the interferent ascorbic acid, and improved stability. This enhanced analytical performance for NADH provides a sound basis for further work coupling to a range of NAD-dependent dehydrogenases for applications in biosensing, bio-fuel cells and biocatalysis.

Carbon Nanomaterials Based Electrochemical Sensors/Biosensors for the Sensitive Detection of Pharmaceutical and Biological Compounds

Electrochemical sensors and biosensors have attracted considerable attention for the sensitive detection of a variety of biological and pharmaceutical compounds. Since the discovery of carbon-based nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes, C₆₀ and graphene, they have garnered tremendous interest for their potential in the design of high-performance electrochemical sensor platforms due to their exceptional thermal, mechanical, electronic, and catalytic properties. Carbon nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensors have been employed for the detection of various analytes with rapid electron transfer kinetics. This feature article focuses on the recent design and use of carbon nanomaterials, primarily single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), SWCNTs-rGO, Au nanoparticle-rGO nanocomposites, and buckypaper as sensing materials for the electrochemical detection of some representative biological and pharmaceutical compounds such as methylglyoxal, acetaminophen, valacyclovir, β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrate (NADH), and glucose. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of SWCNTs, rGO, and SWCNT-rGO for the detection of acetaminophen and valacyclovir was comparatively studied, revealing that SWCNT-rGO nanocomposites possess excellent electrocatalytic activity in comparison to individual SWCNT and rGO platforms. The sensitive, reliable and rapid analysis of critical disease biomarkers and globally emerging pharmaceutical compounds at carbon nanomaterials based electrochemical sensor platforms may enable an extensive range of applications in preemptive medical diagnostics.