Electropolymerization of Au nanoparticle incorporated poly(dopamine) thin-films at a micro liquid|liquid interface

acts as a strong oxidizer, accepting electrons from DA to form Au nanoparticles (NPs) that become incorporated into the growing PDA matrix. Au NP/PDA electrosynthesis was found to improve with increasing aqueous phase pH and was discovered to create a delicate, free-standing film. Au NP/PDA was used to modify a glassy-carbon electrode (GCE) and employed as a platform for DA detection. This proof-of-concept DA-biosensor demonstrated quasi-reversible DA oxidation and a good limit-of-detection (LOD) and linear-dynamic-range of 0.27 µM and 0.2-20 µM, respectively, using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV).