A new antibody immobilization strategy based on electrodeposition of nanometer-sized hydroxyapatite for label-free capacitive immunosensor

A new antibody immobilization strategy was proposed for the fabrication of a label-free capacitive immunosensor based on electrodeposition of nanometer-sized bioactive hydroxyapatite (HAP). By a procedure of constant current cathodal electrodeposition, a nano-HAP film with bioactivity was formed on a self-assembled β-mercaptoethanol monolayer-modified gold electrode. A suitable amount of chitosan was added into the electrodeposition solution with the aim of obtaining a strong and homogeneous HAP-coating film. After blocking with long-chain alkylthiol and then embedding antibody by coupling with divinylsulphone, the electrode was possessed of a higher initial capacitance value, which was suitable for capacitive transduction. The sensitive layer was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrum, scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical method. Human transferrin immunoassay was selected as the testing system. The linear response range of the sensor for transferrin was between 1 and 100 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.15 ng/mL. After simply rinsing with subacidity solution, the regenerated sensor achieved up to 10 assay cycles without significant loss of sensitivity.