Scientific Reports (Oct 2021)

1,1'-Carbonyldiimidazole-copper nanoflower enhanced collapsible laser scribed graphene engraved microgap capacitive aptasensor for the detection of milk allergen

  • Indra Gandi Subramani,
  • Veeradasan Perumal,
  • Subash C. B. Gopinath,
  • Norani Muti Mohamed,
  • Mark Ovinis,
  • Lim Li Sze

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00057-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Abstract The bovine milk allergenic protein, ‘β-lactoglobulin’ is one of the leading causes of milk allergic reaction. In this research, a novel label-free non-faradaic capacitive aptasensor was designed to detect β-lactoglobulin using a Laser Scribed Graphene (LSG) electrode. The graphene was directly engraved into a microgapped (~ 95 µm) capacitor-electrode pattern on a flexible polyimide (PI) film via a simple one-step CO2 laser irradiation. The novel hybrid nanoflower (NF) was synthesized using 1,1′-carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) as the organic molecule and copper (Cu) as the inorganic molecule via one-pot biomineralization by tuning the reaction time and concentration. NF was fixed on the pre-modified PI film at the triangular junction of the LSG microgap specifically for bio-capturing β-lactoglobulin. The fine-tuned CDI-Cu NF revealed the flower-like structures was viewed through field emission scanning electron microscopy. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed the interactions with PI film, CDI-Cu NF, oligoaptamer and β-lactoglobulin. The non-faradaic sensing of milk allergen β-lactoglobulin corresponds to a higher loading of oligoaptamer on 3D-structured CDI-Cu NF, with a linear range detection from 1 ag/ml to 100 fg/ml and attomolar (1 ag/ml) detection limit (S/N = 3:1). This novel CDI-Cu NF/LSG microgap aptasensor has a great potential for the detection of milk allergen with high-specificity and sensitivity.