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A novel electrochemical DNA biosensor construction based on layered CuS–graphene composite and Au nanoparticles

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Abstract

A novel CuS–graphene (CuS-Gr) composite was synthesized to achieve excellent electrochemical properties for application as a DNA electrochemical biosensor. CuS-Gr composite was prepared by a hydrothermal method, in which two-dimensional graphene served as a two-dimensional conductive skeleton to support CuS nanoparticles. A sensitive electrochemical DNA biosensor was fabricated by immobilizing single-stranded DNA (ss-DNA) labeled at the 5′ end using 6-mercapto-1-hexane (HS-ssDNA) on the surface of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) to form ssDNA-S–AuNPs/CuS-Gr, and hybridization sensing was done in phosphate buffer. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were performed for the characterization of the modified electrodes. Differential pulse voltammetry was applied to monitor the DNA hybridization using an [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− solution as a probe. Under optimum conditions, the biosensor developed exhibited a good linear relationship between the current and the logarithm of the target DNA concentration ranging from 0.001 to 1 nM, with a low detection limit of 0.1 pM (3σ/S). The biosensor exhibited high selectivity to differentiate one-base-mismatched DNA and three-base-mismatched DNA. The results indicated that the sensing platform based on CuS-Gr provides a stable and conductive interface for electrochemical detection of DNA hybridization, and could easily be extended to the detection of other nucleic acids.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1304214) and the State Key Laboratory of Chemo/biosensing and Chemometrics (no. 2013013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, 464000, Henan, China

    Chun-Xuan Xu, Qiu-Ge Zhai, Yu-Jie Liu, Ke-Jing Huang, Lu Lu & Ke-Xin Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, Hunan, China

    Ke-Jing Huang

Authors
  1. Chun-Xuan Xu
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  2. Qiu-Ge Zhai
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  3. Yu-Jie Liu
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  4. Ke-Jing Huang
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  5. Lu Lu
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  6. Ke-Xin Li
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Correspondence to Ke-Jing Huang.

Additional information

Published in the topical collection Graphene in Analytics with guest editors Martin Pumera, Ronen Polsky, and Craig Banks.

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Xu, CX., Zhai, QG., Liu, YJ. et al. A novel electrochemical DNA biosensor construction based on layered CuS–graphene composite and Au nanoparticles. Anal Bioanal Chem 406, 6943–6951 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-7904-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-7904-7

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