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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Engineering Antiviral Agents via Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: June 14, 2022
Electrochemically enhanced antibody immobilization on polydopamine thin film for sensitive surface plasmon resonance
Daqun Chen1, Yihong Mei1, Weihua Hu1
1Institute for Clean Energy & Advanced Materials, Faculty of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Chongqing Engineering Research Center for Rapid Diagnosis of Fatal Diseases, Southwest University, 2 Tiansheng Road, BeiBei, Chongqing 400715, China.
Abstract:
For sensitive immunoassay, it is essentially important to immobilize antibody on a surface with high density and full retention of their recognition activity. Bio-inspired polydopamine (PDA) thin film has been widely utilized as a reactive coating to immobilize antibody on various surfaces. We herein report that the antibody immobilization capacity of PDA thin film is electrochemically enhanced by applying an oxidative potential to convert the surface catechol group to reactive quinone group. Quantitative surface plasmon resonance (SPR) investigation unveils that upon proper electrochemical oxidization, the antibody loading capacity of PDA film is significantly improved (up to 27%) and is very close to the theoretically maximal capacity of a planar surface if concentrated antibody solution is used. Using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a model target, it is further demonstrated that the SPR immunoassay sensitivity is greatly enhanced due to the improved antibody immobilization. This work offers an efficient strategy to enhance the reactivity of PDA film towards nucleophiles, and may also facilitate its immunoassay application among others.
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