A label-free electrochemical immunosensor for the detection of cardiac marker using graphene quantum dots (GQDs)

A label-free immunosensor based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy has been developed for the sensitive detection of a cardiac biomarker myoglobin (cMyo). Hydrothermally synthesized graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have been used as an immobilized template on screen printed electrodes for the construction of an impedimetric sensor platform. The GQDs-modified electrode was conjugated with highly specific anti-myoglobin antibodies to develop the desired immunosensor. The values of charge transfer resistance (R-ct) were monitored as a function of varying antigen concentration. The R-ct value of the immunosensor showed a linear increase (from 0.20 to 0.31 k Omega) in the range of 0.01-100 ng/mL cMyo. The specific detection of cMyo was also made in the presence of other competing proteins. The limit of detection for the proposed immunosensor was, estimated as 0.01 ng/mL which is comparable to the standard ELISA techniques. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.