Functionalization of anti-Brucella antibody on ZnO-NPs and their deposition on aluminum sheet towards developing a sensor for the detection of Brucella

Brucellosis is an endemic zoonotic disease in worldwide, particularly prevalent in Central Najed region of Saudi Arabia, where the population has a nomadic heritage of drinking fresh milk from goats, sheep and camels. The present study aims to develop a simple antibody-functionalized nanomaterial-based biosensor for the detection of Brucella in milk samples. The detection of Brucella by the proposed sensor is based on measuring changes in electrical signals and study their properties. The zinc oxide nano particles (ZnO-NPs) were synthesized through solution process in liquid medium at reduced refluxing temperature. The crystalline properties of obtained ZnO-NPs were analyzed via X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), whereas the morphology was observed with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The investigation reveals that obtained NPs were almost spherical in shape with an average diameter of ∼10-15 nm. The binding of the anti-Brucella antibody to ZnO-NPs was verified by FTIR. Our study showed that the anti-Brucella antibody was successfully functionalized on ZnO-NPs and these functionalized NPs were also effectively deposited on aluminum sheets (Al-sheet). Finally, Al-sheets developed above were used as an electrode component for voltametric detection via cyclic voltammetry (CV).