Ultrasensitive Label-free Electrochemical Immunosensor based on Multifunctionalized Graphene Nanocomposites for the Detection of Alpha Fetoprotein

Abstract

Abstract In this work, a novel label-free electrochemical immunosensor was developed for the quantitative detection of alpha fetoprotein (AFP). Multifunctionalized graphene nanocomposites (TB-Au-Fe 3 O 4 -rGO) were applied to modify the electrode to achieve the amplification of electrochemical signal. TB-Au-Fe 3 O 4 -rGO includes the advantages of graphene, ferroferric oxide nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 NPs), gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and toluidine blue (TB). As a kind of redox probe, TB can produce the electrochemical signal. Graphene owns large specific surface area, high electrical conductivity and good adsorption property to load a large number of TB. Fe 3 O 4 NPs have good electrocatalytic performance towards the redox of TB. Au NPs have good biocompatibility to capture the antibodies. Due to the good electrochemical performance of TB-Au-Fe 3 O 4 -rGO, the effective and sensitive detection of AFP was achieved by the designed electrochemical immunosensor. Under optimal conditions, the designed immunosensor exhibited a wide linear range from 1.0 × 10 −5 ng/mL to 10.0 ng/mL with a low detection limit of 2.7 fg/mL for AFP. It also displayed good electrochemical performance including good reproducibility, selectivity and stability, which would provide potential applications in the clinical diagnosis of other tumor markers.