Carbon nanotubes functionalized electrospun nanofibers formed 3D electrode enables highly strong ECL of peroxydisulfate and its application in immunoassay

A new biosensing platform based on electrospun carbon nanotubes nanofibers (CNTs@PNFs) composite, which enabled strong electrochemiluminescent emission of peroxydisulfate, was firstly developed for immunoassay with favorable analytical performances, and then was utilized to evaluate the interaction between antibody and antigen in vitro. Moreover, the obvious ECL image of peroxydisulfate on the prepared sensing platform was firstly recorded in this report. In order to expand the application of peroxydisulfate ECL, the specific recognization biomolecules, α-fetoprotein (AFP) antibody was bound to the functionalized film via electrostatic interaction for fabricating label-free ECL immunosensor to detect α-AFP. Based on the ECL change resulting from the specific immunoreaction between antigen and antibody, the quantitative analysis for AFP with wide dynamic response in the range from 0.1 pg mL−1 to 160 ng mL−1 was realized. And the limit of detection was estimated to be 0.09 pg mL−1. Therefore, the flexible sensing platform not only acted as the sensitized sensing element, but also offered a suitable carrier for immobilization of biological recognition elements with low-toxicity and eco-friendliness, which opened a promising approach to developing further electrospun nanofiber based amplified ECL biosensor with favorable analytical performances.