Non-enzymatic carbohydrates detection based on Au modified MWCNT field-effect transistor

We have demonstrated a simple and inexpensive method of carbohydrate detection using a field effect transistor (FET) with Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) attached to multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), which does not require any enzymes or catalysts. The high sensitivity (3.4 mM−1 for sucrose and 6.9 mM−1 for glucose) of the sensor is adequate to diagnosis diabetes from a patient serum. The sensor is more sensitive to glucose than sucrose. The hypothesized detection mechanism of the FET sensor is a change of the potential barrier of the conductive MWCNT by the adsorption of the carbohydrates to the attached AuNPs.