Interference-free photoelectrochemical immunoassays using carboxymethylated dextran-coated and gold-modified TiO₂...

An interference-free photoelectrochemical (PEC) immunoassay was developed for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) detection. Covalent linkage of cTnI antibody to carboxymethylated (CM-) dextran pre-immobilized onto a gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)-modified TiO₂ nanotube array (NTA) affords five consecutive analyte captures with surface regenerations in between. Changes in the photocurrents at this photoanode before and after cTnI captures can be well fitted with the Langmuir isotherm from 0.220 pM to 2.20 nM cTnI. Owing to the inherently high sensitivity of the PEC detection, the detection limit (2.20 pg/mL) is lower than the range attainable with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (6.00-40.0 pg/mL). Furthermore, CM-dextran prevents species in complex biological matrices from nonspecifically adsorbing onto the sensor surface, a feature not attainable with uncoated semiconductor electrodes or those coated with non-hydrogel-based chemical modifiers. The excellent anti-fouling property of dextran hydrogel allowed us to validate the accuracy of our regenerable sensors through a comparison of PEC immunoassays of patient sera to those of ELISA.