Pt-polyaniline nanocomposite on boron-doped diamond electrode for amperometic biosensor with low detection limit

Boron-doped diamond electrodes covered with a nanostructured Pt nanoparticle-polyaniline composite have been fabricated and employed as sensitive amperometric sensors with low detection limit. A highly conductive boron-doped diamond thin film (BDD) was prepared by chemical vapor deposition, and its morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The nanostructured composite layer was grown on the BDD electrode by electrochemical deposition of polyaniline and Pt nanoparticles. Glucose oxidase (GOx) was then adsorptively immobilized on the modified BDD electrode. The biosensor displays a large surface area, high catalytic activity of the Pt nanoparticles, efficient electron mediation through the conducting polymer, and low background current of the electrode. The biosensor exhibits an excellent response to glucose, with a broad linear range from 5.9 μM to 0.51 mM, a sensitivity of 5.5 μA·mM−1, a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.9947, and a detection limit of 0.10 μM. The apparent Michaelis-Menten constant (KMapp) and the maximum current density of the electrode are 4.1 mM and 0.021 mA, respectively. This suggests that the immobilized GOx possesses a higher affinity for glucose at the lower KMapp, and that the enzymatic reaction rate constitutes the rate-limiting step of the response.