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Indirect competitive-structured electrochemical immunosensor for tetrabromobisphenol A sensing using CTAB-MnO2 nanosheet hybrid as a label for signal amplification

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Abstract

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a kind of brominated flame retardant that is usually added to products to reduce their flame retardancy. However, its extensive use has resulted in their residues being found in the environment, which is very harmful. Herein, an indirect competitive immunosensor has been established for TBBPA detection based on the signal amplification system. Pd nanospheres in situ reduced on the surface of MnO2 nanosheet hybrid (MnO2/Pd) was used as the label for the secondary antibody through the Pd-N bond, and gold-toluidine blue composite was loaded onto MWCNTs (MWCNTs/Au-TB), which functioned as the platform for the immunosensor. The spherical structure of Pd had abundant catalytic active sites, which enhanced the catalytic activity of MnO2/Pd as the label, hence amplifying the signal response. Besides, MWCNTs/Au-TB improved electron transfer and produced a strong signaling pathway for immobilizing antigens through the Au-NH2 bond, which can specifically recognize primary antibodies to improve sensitivity. The immunosensor had a linear concentration range of 0–81 ng/mL, a low detection limit of 0.17 ng/mL (S/N = 3), with good stability, selectivity, and reproducibility based on the above advantages. Additionally, the acceptable accuracy and recoveries (recoveries, 92–124%; CV, 3.3–8.8%) in the real water sample analysis indicated that this strategy is promising for emerging pollutant analysis.

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Funding

The present work was supported by the 13th five-year development plan of China by the National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFC1600301), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 21876067, 21577051), and the Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Technology and Material of Water Treatment.

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Author notes

  1. Salome Yakubu and Boyuan Jia contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

    Salome Yakubu, Boyuan Jia, Yujia Guo, Jianxuan Xiao, Kunlong Liang & Zhen Zhang

  2. School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu, China

    Yanmin Zou

  3. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Pesticide Environmental Assessment and Pollution Control, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing, 210042, Jiangsu, China

    Ninghui Song & Yuanqing Bu

  4. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, China

    Yuanqing Bu

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  1. Salome Yakubu
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Contributions

Salome Yakubu: conceptualization, methodology, software, writing—original draft. Boyuan Jia: writing—reviewing. Yujia Guo: data curation. Yanmin Zou: investigation, validation, funding acquisition, supervision. Kunlong Liang: visualization, writing—original draft. Jiaxuan Xiao: investigation, validation. Yuanqing Bu: visualization, software. Ninghui Song: funding acquisition, investigation. Zhen Zhang: writing—reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Yanmin Zou.

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Yakubu, S., Jia, B., Guo, Y. et al. Indirect competitive-structured electrochemical immunosensor for tetrabromobisphenol A sensing using CTAB-MnO2 nanosheet hybrid as a label for signal amplification. Anal Bioanal Chem 413, 4217–4226 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03368-7

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