Electrochemical sensing by a covalently bonded biotin–avidin couple on a silver nanoparticle modified gold electrode

A gold electrode was modified with cysteamine by a self-assembly monolayer technique and covalently coupled with 3-mercaptopropionic acid functionalized silver nanoparticles. The free carboxylic acid groups of the 3-mercaptopropionic acid functionalized silver nanoparticles assembled on gold electrode were bonded with the amine groups of biotin or avidin trough amide linkages. The changes in the interfacial properties of gold electrode modified stepwise were examined by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy using the ferric/ferrous redox system. The electrochemical sensing properties of covalently bonded biotin or avidin on a gold electrode modified with silver nanoparticle were studied by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy by the varying concentrations of the bio-affinity molecules in the same redox system. The charge transfer resistance was directly proportional to the concentration of analyte while the response was weakly dependent upon the change in the respective peak anodic currents. The sensing mechanism was established to explain the role of the silver nanoparticles.