A silk derived carbon fiber mat modified with Au@Pt urchilike nanoparticles: A new platform as electrochemical microbial biosensor

We present here a facile and efficient route to prepare silk derived carbon mat modified with Au@Pt urchilike nanoparticles (Au@Pt NPs) and develop an Escherichia coli (E. coli)-based electrochemical sensor using this material. Silk is a natural protein fiber, and it is abundant with kinds of functionalities which are important in the development of the derived material. The 5-derived carbon fiber mat have amino, pyridine and carbonyl functional groups, these natural existent functionalities allow the Au@Pt NPs to self-assemble on the carbon fiber surface and provide a biocompatible microenvironment for bacteria. The Au@Pt NPs modified S-derived carbon fiber is sensitive to detect the E. coli activities with a low detection limit, where glucose is used as a prelimiltary substrate to evaluate them. The performance of Au@Pt/carbon fiber mat based biosensor is much better than that of commercial carbon paper based biosensor. The high sensitivity of this biosensor stems from the unique electrocatalytic properties of Au@Pt urchilike NPs and quinone groups presented in S-derived carbon fiber. This biosensor is also tested for detection of organophosphate pesticides, fenamiphos. The relative inhibition of E. coli activity is linear with -log[fenamiphos] at the concentration range from 0.5 mg/L to 36.6 mg/L with lowest observable effect concentration (LOEC) of 0.09 mg/L. The Au@Pt NPs modified S-derived carbon fiber mat possesses high conductivity, biocompatibility and high electrocatalytic activity and be can used as advanced electrode materials for microbial biosensor improvement. The microbial biosensor based on this material shows potential applications in environmental monitoring. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.