Magneto-elastic biosensors: Influence of different thiols on pathogen capture efficiency

Magneto-elastic biosensors have mass sensitivity to biological species, offering reliability and reproducibility in the detection of pathogens such as Escherichia coli. In this work, amorphous ribbons of Metglas 2826MB3 were coated with layers of Cr and Au by DC magnetron sputtering and cut to 5mm×1mm. The influence of different thiols on captured pathogens was studied. The compounds cystamine (CYS), cysteamine (CYSTE) and mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) were deposited on Au-covered surfaces, followed by antibodies. The roughness parameters Ra and Rq were determined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and micrographs from scanning electron microscopy with a field emission gun (FESEM) were also utilized. Biosensors formed with MPA showed an increased efficiency for attracting E. coli compared to biosensors with CYS and CYSTE, but large standard deviations were observed, making reproducibility and reliability difficult for that biosensor. Sensors tested with CYSTE showed greater efficiency and a lower detection limit than sensors with CYS. The results indicated that the size of the carbon chain and the terminal grouping influence the effectiveness of immobilization on magneto-elastic biosensors.