High selective property of gelatin/MWCNTs functionalized carbon fiber microelectrode: Toward real-time monitoring of ascorbate

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as one of powerful materials for in vivo electrochemistry sensing. However, the construction of CNTs as the bio-interface on the electrode surface is still limited because of the toxicity. On the other hand, the adsorption of proteins also renders a great challenge against the stability and sensitivity of implanted electrode. In this work, we validated the protein pre-treated strategy as an effective pre-correction way for the in vivo monitoring of neurochemical small molecule using the gelatin-MWCNTs functionalized carbon fiber microelectrodes (gelatin-MWCNTs/CFME). The gelatin-MWCNTs/CFME presented excellent stability and selectivity with well-maintained sensitivity, which was almost the same as that of the pre-correction. In addition, the well-maintained sensitivity enabled the gelatin-MWCNTs/CFME to detect the ascorbate in human blood sample and be interference-free from proteins. More remarkable, the gelatin-MWCNTs presented excellent biocompatibility. The superior properties along with an improvement in the biocompatibility of CNTs has made the gelatin-MWCNTs a promising candidate to be used as in in vivo electrochemical sensing.