ZnO Nanowire Arrays on 3D Hierachical Graphene Foam: Biomarker Detection of Parkinson's Disease

We report that vertically aligned ZnO nanowire arrays (ZnO NWAs) were fabricated on 3D graphene foam (GF) and used to selectively detect uric acid (UA), dopamine (DA), and ascorbic acid (AA) by a differential pulse voltammetry method. The optimized ZnO NWA/GF electrode provided a high surface area and high selectivity with a detection limit of 1 nM for UA and DA. The high selectivity in the oxidation potential was explained by the gap difference between the lowest unoccupied and highest occupied molecular orbitals of a biomolecule for a set of given electrodes. This method was further used to detect UA levels in the serum of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The UA level was 25% lower in PD patients than in healthy individuals. This finding strongly implies that UA can be used as a biomarker for PD.