The effect of pH and DNA concentration on organic thin-film transistor biosensors

Organic electronics are beginning to attract more interest for biosensor technology as they provide an amenable interface between biology and electronics. Stable biosensor based on electronic detection platform would represent a significant advancement in technology as costs and analysis time would decrease immensely. Organic materials provide a route toward that goal due to their compatibility with electronic applications and biological molecules. In this report, we detail the effects of experimental parameters, such as pH and concentration, toward the selective detection of DNA via surface-bound peptide nucleic acid (PNA) sequences on organic transistor biosensors. The OTFT biosensors are fabricated with thin-films of the organic semiconductor, 5,5′-bis-(7-dodecyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)-2,2′-bithiophene (DDFTTF), in which they exhibit a stable mobility of 0.2 cm2 V−1 s−1 in buffer solutions (phosphate-buffer saline, pH 7.4 or sodium acetate, pH 7). Device performance were optimized to minimize the deleterious effects of pH on gate–bias stress such that the sensitivity toward DNA detection can be improved. In titration experiments, the surface-bound PNA probes were saturated with 50 nM of complementary target DNA, which required a 10-fold increase in concentration of single-base mismatched target DNA to achieve a similar surface saturation. The binding constant of DNA on the surface-bound PNA probes was determined from the concentration-dependent response (titration measurements) of our organic transistor biosensors.

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► Label-free electronic biological detection are attractive due to low cost.
► We detail the effects of pH and DNA concentration on organic transistor biosensors.
► In titration experiments, the surface-bound PNA probes were saturated.
► These experiment provides excellent discrimination against single base mismatches.
► Binding constant were determine from concentration-dependent response of OTFT sensors.