Construction of a piezoelectric immunosensor for ultra-sensitive and highly selective detection of ribavirin in animal-derived foods

Abstract

In this work, a suppressive piezoelectric immunosensor based on the ultra-sensitive quartz crystal microbalance and highly specific immunosorbent assay was constructed for the detection of ribavirin for the first time. The carboxyl group was modified on the surface of the gold electrode by electropolymerization, and then the carboxyl group was combined with the amino-modified antigen, and then the corresponding antibody was able to bind to it according to the principle of immune recognition, which interlocked to cause the frequency change of the piezoelectric sensor. The preparation conditions of the sensor and the antibody concentration were optimized, and the performance of the sensor was evaluated. Under the optimal conditions, a wide linear range of 1–750 μg L⁻¹, a low detection limit (IC₁₅) of 2.64 μg L⁻¹, and a good sensitivity (IC₅₀) of 31.49 μg L⁻¹ were obtained. The sensor was used for the detection of ribavirin in chicken and milk samples, and the recovery rate ranged from 88.01 to 94.42%, which shows satisfactory consistency with the detection results of high performance liquid chromatography. It was suggested that the proposed piezoelectric immunosensor has good sensitivity and selectivity for ribavirin, and can be applied to the detection of actual food samples.