Vertically-aligned Prussian blue/carbon nanotube nanocomposites on a carbon microfiber as a biosensing scaffold for ultrasensitively detecting glucose

•Carbon nanotubes are vertically-aligned on a carbon fiber to form a biosensing scaffold.•Prussian blue and/or GOx is well-organized along the nanotubes’ length.•The ordering electrode structure facilitates the enzymatic electrochemical reactions.•The biosensors feature significantly improved performance in signaling H2O2 and glucose.

We describe our assembly and the analytical performance of a glucose biosensor consisting of an array of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that perpendicularly fall on a 7-μm-diameter carbon fiber and are modified by a “dual” enzymatic system—viz. glucose oxidase (GOx) and Prussian blue (PB, an artificial peroxidase). We chose to use the PB-catalyzed reduction reaction of hydrogen peroxide, an end-product of the GOx-catalyzed oxidation of glucose, to “relay” electrons from GOx to the substrate electrode. We highlight that the electrode-structural alignment of this novel biosensing system plays a crucial role in optimizing the electrochemical- and catalytic-reactions of the enzymes with their substrates. The vertical alignment of enzyme-modified CNTs with the pores located between neighboring individual CNTs creates the simplest optimized pathways for substrates to diffuse to the enzymes and for the generated electrical signals to transport along the nanotube’s length to an electronic analyzer. Consequently, the glucose biosensor thus constructed exhibits a high sensitivity of 4.9 μA/mM with a detection limit of 0.05 mmol/L and long-term stability in amperometrically detecting glucose. Our long-range-order assembling of electroactive biomolecules and microscale/nanoscale materials into a multifunctional biocomposite accounts for this superb performance of vital importance in their realistic applications in deciphering glucose and hydrogen peroxide.

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