An electrochemical biosensor for direct detection of DNA using polystyrene-g-soya oil-g-imidazole graft copolymer

A label-free electrochemical DNA biosensor was developed through the attachment of polystyrene-g-soya oil-g-imidazole graft copolymer (PS-PSyIm) onto modified graphene oxide (GO) electrodeposited on glassy carbon electrode (GC). GC/GO electrode was initially functionalised via electrochemical reduction of 4-nitrobenzene diazonium salt, followed by the electrochemical reduction of NO2 to NH2. Subsequent to the electrochemical deposition of gold nanoparticles on modified surface, the attachment of the PS-PSyIm graft copolymer on the resulting electrode was achieved. The interaction of PS-PSyIm with DNA at the bare glassy carbon electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry technique, and it was found that interaction predominantly takes place through intercalation mode. The selectivity of developed DNA biosensor was also explored by DPV on the basis of considering hybridisation event with non-complementary, one-base mismatched DNA and complementary target DNA sequence. Large decrease in the peak current was found upon the addition of complementary target DNA. The sensitivity of the developed DNA biosensor was also investigated, and detection limit was found to be 1.20 nmol L-1.