Preparation of nanostructured PDMS film as flexible immunosensor for cortisol analysis in human sweat

This work proposed a novel and flexible immunosensor for highly selective and sensitive determination of cortisol in sweat. The flexible electrode was developed by transferring multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) film on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate and subsequent electrochemical deposition of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the MWCNTs surface. The obtained AuNPs/MWCNTs/PDMS electrode was then covalently immobilized with anti–cortisol monoclonal antibody (Anti-Cmab) and blocked with BSA. Scanning electron microscope confirmed that MWCNTs have been firmly combined with PDMS and AuNPs distributed uniformly on the surface of MWCNTs. The PDMS-based sensor possesses a good mechanical stability against stretching, bending and twisting, displaying stable electrochemical performance under deformation. After optimizing the analytical parameters, the developed immunosensor allowed a facile quantification of cortisol in the range of 1 fg/mL–1 μg/mL with a detection limit of 0.3 fg/mL. The cortisol immunosensor was further used to evaluate cortisol levels in human sweat, and the results corresponded closely with commercially available chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) method. Results indicated that the new cortisol immunosensor could provide an effective tool for the noninvasive, point of care measurement of sweat cortisol levels and is promise to be a wearable biosensor for the healthy monitoring.