Supramolecular assembly of perylene derivatives on Au functionalized graphene for sensitivity enhancement of electrochemiluminescent immunosensor

•The perylene derivative was acted as signal enhancer for S2O82- system.•The perylene derivative was loaded on gold nanoparticles functionalized graphene via π–π stacking.•A sandwich-type ECL immunosensor was developed for AFP detection.

A novel electrochemiluminescent immunosensor was designed for cancer biomarker detection based on peroxydisulfate cathodic electrochemiluminescence using a new enhancer, one kind of perylene derivatives, synthesized by integrating the arginine covalently onto the 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic acid (PTCA) (abbreviation as PTC-Arg). Combining the supramolecular assembly method, the aromatic compound of PTC-Arg was effectively immobilized on the gold nanoparticles functionalized graphene (Au@Gra) by π–π stacking (PTC-Arg/Au@Gra). And then PTC-Arg/Au@Gra complexes were further used as multifunctional nanocarriers for the absorption of the second antibody of alpha-fetoprotein (Ab2), which formed sandwich-type immunoassay format through associating with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and the first antibody (Ab1). With PTC-Arg/Au@Gra as enhancer of peroxydisulfate system, the immunosensor exhibited a wide dynamic range of 0.001–10 ng mL−1 and detection of limits (LODs) of 0.3 pg mL−1, respectively. It also suggested a great potential development and applications for sensitive bioassays in clinical detection.

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