Nafion coating the ferrocenylalkanethiol and encapsulated glucose oxidase electrode for amperometric glucose detection

This paper describes the fabrication and application of a complex electrode - Nafion film coating ferrocenylalkanethiol (FcC(11)SH) and encapsulated glucose oxidase (GOD) on a gold electrode. FcC(11)SH is employed as a mediator enabling the electron transfer between GOD and the electrode, GOD is encapsulated in polyacrylamide gel to improve the stability of the enzyme, and the Nafion film is coated on the modified electrode to eliminate interferents such as ascorbic acid, uric acid and acetaminophen in amperometric glucose detection. It is noticed that such a complex electrode exhibits excellent catalytic activity for glucose oxidation, and preserves the native structure of GOD and therefore its enzymatic activity. The encapsulated GOD retains more than 80% of its original biocatalytic activity even after 24 days, much longer than that of naked GOD molecules attached directly to the electrode. The oxidation peak current at the modified electrode shows a linear relationship with the glucose concentration in the range from 0.05 to 20 mM with a detection limit of 2.4 mu M. In addition, the electrode displays a rapid response and good reproducibility for glucose detection, and has been successfully employed for glucose detection in blood plasma samples.