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Updated: Mar 15, 2026
Development and Functionalization of Electrolyte-Gated Graphene Field-Effect Transistor for Biomarker Detection
Published on: February 1, 2022
Label-free graphene biosensor targeting cancer molecules based on non-covalent modification
Lin Zhou1, Hongju Mao2, Chunyan Wu3
1State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Key Laboratory of Terahertz Solid-State Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China.
Abstract:
A label-free immunosensor based on antibody-modified graphene field effect transistor (GFET) was presented. Antibodies targeting carcinoembryonic antigen (Anti-CEA) were immobilized to the graphene surface via non-covalent modification. The bifunctional molecule, 1-pyrenebutanoic acid succinimidyl ester, which is composed of a pyrene and a reactive succinimide ester group, interacts with graphene non-covalently via π-stacking. The succinimide ester group reacts with the amine group to initiate antibody surface immobilization, which was confirmed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy. The resulting anti-CEA modified GFET sufficiently monitored the reaction between CEA protein and anti-CEA in real-time with high specificity, which revealed selective electrical detection of CEA with a limit of detection (LOD) of less than 100pg/ml. The dissociation constant between CEA protein and anti-CEA was estimated to be 6.35×10-11M, indicating the high affinity and sensitivity of anti-CEA-GFET. Taken together, the graphene biosensors provide an effective tool for clinical application and point-of-care medical diagnostics.
