Direct electrochemistry of glucose oxidase and electrochemical biosensing of glucose on quantum dots/carbon nanotubes electrodes

Because of their unique chemical, physical and electronic properties, Quantum dots (QDs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are now extremely attractive and important nanomaterials in bioanalytical applications. In this work, CdTe QDs with the size of about 3 nm were prepared and a novel electrochemical biosensing platform of glucose based on CdTe/CNTs electrode was explored. This CdTe/CNTs electrode was prepared by first mixing CdTe QDs, CNTs, Nafion, and glucose oxidase (GOD) in appropriate amounts and then modifying this mixture on the glass carbon electrode (GC). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to observe the dispersion of CdTe QDs on carbon nanotubes and cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to investigate the electrochemical behavior of the CdTe/CNTs electrode. A pair of well-defined quasi-reversible redox peaks of glucose oxidase were obtained at the CdTe/CNTs based enzyme electrode by direct electron transfer between the protein and the electrode. The immobilized glucose oxidase could retain bioactivity and catalyze the reduction of dissolved oxygen. Due to the synergy between the CdTe QDs and CNTs, this novel biosensing platform based on QDs/CNTs electrode responded even more sensitively than that based on GC electrode modified by CdTe QDs or CNTs alone. The inexpensive, reliable and sensitive sensing platform based on QDs/CNTs electrode provides wide potential applications in clinical, environmental, and food analysis.