Fullerene–nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes for the direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin and its application in biosensing

• The direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin based on C60–NCNTs was realized.
• C60–NCNTs accelerated the direct electron transfer rate of hemoglobin.
• The biosensor showed excellent electrocatalytic ability for H2O2 reduction.

The direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin (Hb) immobilized by a fullerene–nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes and chitosan (C60–NCNTs/CHIT) composite matrix is demonstrated. The cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to characterize the modified electrode. In the deaerated buffer solution, the cyclic voltammogram of the Hb/C60–NCNTs/CHIT composite film modified electrode showed a pair of well-behaved redox peaks with the E°′ = − 0.335 (± 0.3) V (vs. SCE). The redox peaks are assigned to the redox reaction of Hb(FeIII/FeII) and confirm the effective immobilization of Hb on the composite film. The large value of ks = 1.8 (± 0.2) s− 1 suggests that the immobilized Hb achieved a relative fast electron transfer process. The fast electron transfer interaction between protein and electrode surface suggested that the C60–NCNTs/CHIT composite film may mimic some physiological process and further elucidate the relationship between protein structures and biological functions. Moreover, the resulting electrode exhibited excellent electrocatalytic ability towards the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with the linear dynamic range of 2.0–225.0 μM. The linear regression equation was Ip/μA = 7.35 (± 0.08) + 0.438 (± 0.007) C/μM with the correlation coefficient of 0.9993. The detection limit was estimated at about 1 μM (S/N = 3). The sensitivity was 438.0 (± 2.5) μA mM− 1. It is expected that the method presented here can not only be easily extended to other redox enzymes or proteins, but also be used as an electrochemical sensing devices for the determination of H2O2 in cell extracts or urine.

A pair of well-defined and quasi-reversible redox peaks is observed at the Hb/C60–NCNT/CHIT/GCE (curve d) with the formal potential of − 0.335 V (vs. SCE) and the peak to peak separation was 76 mV.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide