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We report the fabrication of a highly sensitive field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor using thermally-reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) sheets functionalized with gold nanoparticle (NP)–antibody conjugates. Probe antibody was labeled on the surface of TRGO sheets through Au NPs and electrical detection of protein binding (Immunoglobulin G/IgG and anti-Immunoglobulin G/anti-IgG) was accomplished by FET and direct current (dc) measurements. The protein binding events induced significant changes in the resistance of the TRGO sheet, which is referred to as the sensor response. The dependence of the sensor response on the TRGO base resistance in the sensor and the antibody areal density on the TRGO sheet was systematically studied, from which a correlation of the sensor response with sensor parameters was found: the sensor response was more significant with larger TRGO base resistance and higher antibody areal density. The detection limit of the novel biosensor was around the 0.2 ng/mL level, which is among the best of reported carbon nanomaterial-based protein sensors and can be further optimized by tuning the sensor structure.

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nr-4-10-921_ESM.pdf (240 KB)
Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 09 February 2011
Revised: 04 May 2011
Accepted: 06 May 2011
Published: 21 May 2011
Issue date: October 2011

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was provided by the USA National Science Foundation (NSF) (Nos. CMMI-0900509, CBET-0803142, and ECCS-0708998). Graphene oxide samples were supplied by Prof. Rodney S. Ruoff. The authors thank Dr. Heather A. Owen for technical support with SEM, and Dr. Leonidas E. Ocola for assistance in the electrode fabrication. The e-beam lithography was performed at the Center for Nanoscale Materials of Argonne National Laboratory, which is supported by the USA Department of Energy (No. DE-AC02-06CH11357). The SEM imaging was conducted at the Electron Microscope Laboratory of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

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