Immunosensor based on nanocomposite of nanostructured zirconium oxide and gelatin-A

We have reported the studies related to the fabrication of a nanocomposite, comprising of sol-gel derived inorganic zirconium oxide nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) and organic biopolymer gelatin-A (GA), deposited on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate by drop casting method. The GA-ZrO2/ITO electrode was used for immobilization of monoclonal antibodies (Ab) specific to antigen Vibrio cholerae (Vc) followed by bovine serum albumin (BSA) for antigen Vc detection using electrochemical techniques. The structural and morphological behaviour of these ZrO2 NPs, GA-ZrO2/ITO electrode and BSA/Ab/GA-ZrO2/ITO immunosensor was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy techniques. The transmission electron microscopy study exhibited a spherical shape ZrO2 NPs. The average crystalline size of ZrO2 NPs was obtained as 10.3 ± 1 nm from X-ray diffraction measurement and 72 nm hydrodynamic radius measured by dynamic light scattering. GA-ZrO2 nanocomposite provides a porous structure which assists to higher loading of Ab on the matrix surface that improved the biosensing properties. The electrochemical response studies of the fabricated BSA/Ab/GA-ZrO2/ITO immunosensor exhibited good linearity in the range of 50-400 ng mL−1, low limit of detection of 0.74 ng/mL, sensitivity as 0.03 Ω ng−1 mL−1 cm−2 and reproducibility more than 10 times.