Characterization of a sensitive biosensor based on an unmodified DNA and gold nanoparticle composite and its application in diquat determination

DNA usually adsorbs gold nanoparticles by virtue of mercapto or amino groups at one end of a DNA molecule. However, in this paper, we report a sensitive biosensor constructed using unmodified DNA molecules with consecutive adenines (CA DNA) and gold nanoparticles (GNPs). The CA DNA-GNP composite was fabricated on gold electrodes and characterized by using of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and the electrochemical method. Using an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM), the mechanism by which the CA DNA and GNPs combined was also studied. The modified electrode exhibited an ultrasensitive response to diquat. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was used to study the linear relationships between concentrations and reduction peak currents, ranging from 1.0 × 10−9 M to 1.2 × 10−6 M. The detection limit of it is 2.0 × 10−10 M. The feasibility of the proposed assay for use in human urine and grain was investigated, and the satisfactory results were obtained.