Electrically active polyaniline coated magnetic (EAPM) nanoparticle as novel transducer in biosensor for detection of Bacillus anthracis spores in food samples

Electrically active polyaniline coated magnetic (EAPM) nanoparticle-based biosensor has been developed for the detection of Bacillus anthracis endospores in contaminated food samples. The 100 nm-diameter EAPM nanoparticles are synthesized from aniline monomer (made electrically active by acid doping) coating the surface of gamma iron oxide cores. The magnetic, electrical, and structural characteristics of the synthesized EAPM nanoparticles have been studied using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), four-point probe, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Room temperature hysteresis of the synthesized nanoparticles shows a saturation magnetization value of 44.1 emu/g. The EAPM nanoparticles are biologically modified to act as an immunomagnetic concentrator of B. anthracis spores from lettuce, ground beef and whole milk samples and are directly applied to a direct-charge transfer biosensor. The detection mechanism of the biosensor depends on the capillary flow of the captured spores on the biosensor surface along with direct-charge transfer across the EAPM nanoparticles. Experimental results indicate that the biosensor is able to detect B. anthracis spores at concentrations as low as 4.2 × 102 spores/ml from the samples. The EAPM-based biosensor detection system is fast and reliable with a total detection time of 16 min.