High-Sensitivity Electrochemiluminescence Probe with Molybdenum Carbides as Nanocarriers for α-Fetoprotein Sensing

Anal Chem. 2017 Nov 21;89(22):12108-12114. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b02701. Epub 2017 Nov 7.

Abstract

Suitably designed electrochemiluminescence (ECL) carrying group acting as high-efficiency solid-state probe has attracted a lot of attention. Herein, molybdenum carbides with the two-dimensional ultrathin nanosheet structure on the surface and excellent conductivity were successfully employed as the nanocarriers for the capture of ECL reagent of luminol-capped Au nanoparticles (luminol-AuNPs). Notably, the luminol-AuNPs in the hybrid (luminol-AuNPs@Mo2C) exhibited enhanced ECL performance (∼6-fold) as compared to individual luminol-AuNPs because of the facilitated electron transfer process. Ultimately, the as-prepared ECL label was used to construct a label-free ECL immunosensor for the detection of α-fetoprotein (AFP). The immunosensor shows high selectivity and high sensitivity to AFP detection with a wide linear range of 0.1 pg·mL-1 to 30 ng·mL-1 and an extremely low detection limit of 0.03 pg·mL-1 (S/N = 3). Moreover, the fabricated ECL immunosensor exhibit satisfied performance in the practical application. This novel sensing strategy not only broadens the application of molybdenum carbides but also provides a new efficient approach to detect various biomolecules.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques*
  • Electrochemical Techniques*
  • Gold / chemistry
  • Luminescent Agents / chemistry*
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Molybdenum / chemistry*
  • Particle Size
  • Surface Properties
  • alpha-Fetoproteins / analysis*

Substances

  • Luminescent Agents
  • alpha-Fetoproteins
  • molybdenum carbide
  • Gold
  • Molybdenum