Issue 1, 2024

Enhancing the conductivity of plasma polymer functionalized electrodes using gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Plasma deposited polyoxazoline thin films (POx) are a promising solution for the rapid, scalable, and substrate-independent immuno-functionalization of electrochemical biosensors. However, a major challenge in using POx thin films in electrochemical sensing is their inherently insulating nature. This work reports the incorporation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) between two layers of POx which enhances the conductivity of the films. The size of the AuNPs, their binding density on the POx underlayer, and the POx films’ intrinsic electrical resistance were all factors in improving the overall electrochemical response of the layered construction. Surface bound electrochemical measurements and conductive atomic force microscopy were conducted to uncover a possible mechanism for the observed nanoparticle-mediated electron transport through the insulating matrix. The primary contributor to increasing conductivity in layered constructions is maximising the surface coverage of AuNPs on the surface to provide pathways for current to flow through the insulating matrix. As a proof of concept, POx layered constructions were then used to detect the binding of exosomes to the surface, indicating that these electrodes promise to provide low limits of detection when functionalised with a suitable recognition element.

Graphical abstract: Enhancing the conductivity of plasma polymer functionalized electrodes using gold nanoparticles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Sep 2023
Accepted
16 Nov 2023
First published
20 Nov 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Mater. Adv., 2024,5, 209-219

Enhancing the conductivity of plasma polymer functionalized electrodes using gold nanoparticles

A. Gheorghiu, D. Yang, T. Li, E. M. Dief, N. Darwish, C. Priest and M. MacGregor, Mater. Adv., 2024, 5, 209 DOI: 10.1039/D3MA00641G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements