Bioinspired polydopamine as the scaffold for the active AuNPs anchoring and the chemical simultaneously reduced graphene oxide: Characterization and the enhanced biosensing application

We report here an efficient approach to enhance the performance of biosensing platform based on graphene or graphene derivate. Initially, graphene oxides (GO) nanosheets were reduced and surface functionalized by one-step oxidative polymerization of dopamine in basic solution at environment friendly condition to obtain the polydopamine (Pdop) modified reduced graphene oxides (PDRGO). The bioinspired surface was further used as a support to anchor active gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The morphology and structure of the as-prepared AuNPs/PDRGO nanocomposite were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Electrochemical studies demonstrate that the as-prepared AuNPs/PDRGO hybrid materials possess excellent electrochemical properties and electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of NADH at low potential (0.1 V vs. SCE) with the fast response (15 s) and the broad linear range (5.0 x 10(-8)-4.2 x 10(-5) M). Thus, this AuNPs/PDRGO nanocomposite can be further used to fabricate a sensitive alcohol biosensor using alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), by simply incorporating the specific enzyme within the composite matrix with the aid of chitosan (Chit). (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.