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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
A Polyaniline-based Sensor of Nucleic Acids
Published on: November 1, 2016
Label-free detection of cupric ions and histidine-tagged proteins using single poly(pyrrole)-NTA chelator conducting
C L Aravinda1, Serge Cosnier, Wilfred Chen
1Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Abstract:
Novel chemical and biological sensors based on a single poly(pyrrole)-NTA chelator nanotube for sensitive, selective, rapid and real-time detection of histidine-tagged protein and cupric ions are reported. NTA groups on the nanotube surface provided a simple mechanism for metal ion sensing via the high-affinity interaction between NTA and the subsequent detection of histidine-tagged protein through the coordination with metal chelated nanotube. Poly(pyrrole)-NTA chelator nanotubes of 190 nm outside diameter, 35 nm wall thickness and 30 microm long were synthesized by electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole-NTA inside a 200 nm diameter alumina template and assembled as a chemoresistive device by bottom-up contact geometry on a pair of parallel gold electrodes with a gap distance of 3 microm. The chemoresistive sensors based on single poly(pyrrole)-NTA chelator nanotube exhibited detection as low as one-hundredth attomolar (0.6 ppt) cupric ions and 1 ng/ml of penta-histidine tagged syntaxin protein.
