A novel sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor for PSA detection based on PtCu bimetallic hybrid (2D/2D) rGO/g-C3N4.

In this work, a sensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor was designed for the quantitative detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) by amperometric i-t. The Au loaded on thionine functionalized graphene oxide (Au@Th/GO) was used as a platform to immobilize primary antibodies (Ab1) and accelerate the electron transfer on the electrode interface. PtCu bimetallic hybrid were loaded on 2D/2D reduced graphene oxide/graphitic carbon nitride (PtCu@rGO/g-C3N4) with large surface area and biocompatibility, which were employed as labels for combining secondary antibodies (Ab2) and amplifying signals to improve the sensitivity of the designed immunosensor which attributes to its good activity for the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Under optimal conditions, the designed immunosensor exhibited a linear concentration range from 50fg/mL to 40ng/mL, with a low detection limit of 16.6fg/mL (S/N=3) for PSA. Additionally, the designed immunosensor showed acceptable selectivity, reproducibility and stability. The satisfactory results in analyze human serum samples indicated potential application promising in clinical monitoring of tumor markers.