Evaluation of Transducer Elements Based on Different Material Configurations for Aptamer-Based Electrochemical Biosensors

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Ivan Lopez Carrasco - , Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (Author)
  • Gianaurelio Cuniberti - , Chair of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Max Bergmann Center of Biomaterials Dresden (Author)
  • Jörg Opitz - , Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (Author)
  • Natalia Beshchasna - , Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (Author)

Abstract

The selection of an appropriate transducer is a key element in biosensor development. Currently, a wide variety of substrates and working electrode materials utilizing different fabrication techniques are used in the field of biosensors. In the frame of this study, the following three specific material configurations with gold-finish layers were investigated regarding their efficacy to be used as electrochemical (EC) biosensors: (I) a silicone-based sensor substrate with a layer configuration of 50 nm SiO/50 nm SiN/100 nm Au/30–50 nm WTi/140 nm SiO/bulk Si); (II) polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) with a gold inkjet-printed layer; and (III) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with a screen-printed gold layer. Electrodes were characterized using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) to evaluate their performance as electrochemical transducers in an aptamer-based biosensor for the detection of cardiac troponin I using the redox molecule hexacyanoferrade/hexacyaniferrade (K3[Fe (CN)6]/K4[Fe (CN)6]. Baseline signals were obtained from clean electrodes after a specific cleaning procedure and after functionalization with the thiolate cardiac troponin I aptamers “Tro4” and “Tro6”. With the goal of improving the PEN-based and PET-based performance, sintered PEN-based samples and PET-based samples with a carbon or silver layer under the gold were studied. The effect of a high number of immobilized aptamers will be tested in further work using the PEN-based sample. In this study, the charge-transfer resistance (Rct), anodic peak height (Ipa), cathodic peak height (Ipc) and peak separation (∆E) were determined. The PEN-based electrodes demonstrated better biosensor properties such as lower initial Rct values, a greater change in Rct after the immobilization of the Tro4 aptamer on its surface, higher Ipc and Ipa values and lower ∆E, which correlated with a higher number of immobilized aptamers compared with the other two types of samples functionalized using the same procedure.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number341
JournalBiosensors
Volume14
Issue number7
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 39056617

Keywords

Keywords

  • aptamer, cardiac troponin, CV, EIS, electrochemical biosensor, gold electrodes