Enhancing electrochemical detection on graphene oxide-CNT nanostructured electrodes using magneto-nanobioprobes

Graphene and related materials have come to the forefront of research in electrochemical sensors during recent years due to the promising properties of these nanomaterials. Further applications of these nanomaterials have been hampered by insufficient sensitivity offered by these nanohybrids for the type of molecules requiring lower detection ranges. Here, we report a signal amplification strategy based on magneto-electrochemical immunoassay which combines the advantages of carbon nanotube and reduced graphene oxide together with electrochemical bursting of magnetic nanoparticles into a large number of metal ions. Sensitive detection was achieved by precisely designing the nanohybrid and correlating the available metal ions with analyte concentration. We confirmed the ultrahigh sensitivity of this method for a new generation herbicide diuron and its analogues up to sub-picomolar concentration in standard water samples. The novel immune-detection platform showed the excellent potential applicability in rapid and sensitive screening of environmental pollutants or toxins in samples.