CdS Nanoparticles Self-Assembled in Porous Anodic Aluminum Oxide Nanochannels and Used for Carcinoembryonic Antigen Detection

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is an important tumor marker, which is identified as a critical marker in some tumors. Thus it is of great practical value to seek an effective and sensitive method for CEA detection. Scholars found that the specific modification of solid-state nanochannels can construct special response characteristics. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is an outstanding photoelectric nanomaterial due to its excellent optical properties. Inspired by the potential application of solid-state nanochannels and CdS, we used anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) to synthesize CdS nanoparticles (NPs) in AAO nanochannels for CEA detection. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) results showed that CdS NPs were successfully self-assembled in AAO nanochannels. When we used AAO + CdS nanochannels for CEA detection, the I–V curves exhibited a broad determination range from 0.1 ng/mL to 100 ng/mL. Therefore, this method has important potential for nanomaterials self-assembled in AAO nanochannels in tumor marker detection for clinical diagnosis.