Selective staining of CdS on ZnO biolabel for ultrasensitive sandwich-type amperometric immunoassay of human heart-type fatty-acid-binding protein and immunoglobulin G.

We report on an ultrasensitive metal-labeled amperometric immunoassay of proteins, which is based on the selective staining of nanocrystalline cadmium sulfide (CdS) on ZnO nanocrystals and in-situ microliter-droplet anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) detection on the immunoelectrode. Briefly, antibody 1 (Ab1), bovine serum albumin (BSA), antigen and ZnO-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) labeled antibody 2 (Ab2-ZnO-MWCNTs) were successively anchored on a β-cyclodextrin-graphene sheets (CD-GS) nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE), forming a sandwich-type immunoelectrode (Ab2-ZnO-MWCNTs/antigen/BSA/Ab1/CD-GS/GCE). CdS was selectively grown on the catalytic ZnO surfaces through chemical reaction of Cd(NO3)2 and thioacetamide (ZnO-label/CdS-staining), due to the presence of an activated cadmium hydroxide complex on ZnO surfaces that can decompose thioacetamide. A beforehand cathodic "potential control" in air and then injection of 7μL of 0.1M aqueous HNO3 on the immunoelectrode allow dissolution of the stained CdS and simultaneous cathodic preconcentration of atomic Cd onto the electrode surface, thus the following in-situ ASV detection can be used for immunoassay with enhanced sensitivity. Under optimized conditions, human immunoglobulin G (IgG) and human heart-type fatty-acid-binding protein (FABP) are analyzed by this method with ultrahigh sensitivity, excellent selectivity and small reagent-consumption, and the limits of detection (LODs, S/N=3) are 0.4fgmL-1 for IgG and 0.3fgmL-1 for FABP (equivalent to 73 FABP molecules in the 6μL sample employed).