Diatom-based label-free optical biosensor for biomolecules.

Diatoms are unicellular algae, which fabricates ornate biosilica shells called frustules that possess a surface rich in reactive silanol (Si-OH) groups. The intrinsic patterned porous structure of diatom frustules at nanoscale can be exploited in the effective detection of biomolecules. In this study, the frustules of a specific diatom Amphora sp. has been functionalized to detect bovine serum albumin (BSA). The functionalization of the diatom frustule substrate is achieved by using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APES). The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results showed an ornately patterned surface of the frustule valve ordered at nanoscale. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra confirmed the N-H bending and stretching of the amine group after amine functionalization. The emission peaks in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the amine-functionalized diatom biosilica selectively enhanced the intensity by a factor of ten when compared to that of a bare diatom biosilica. The result showed a significant quenching of PL intensity of BSA at around 445 nm due to the interaction of amine-functionalized diatom-BSA protein complex. The detection limit was found to be 3 × 10(-5) M of BSA protein. Hence, the study proves that the functionalized frustule of Amphora sp. is an effective quantitative analytical tool for optical label-free biosensing applications.