Investigating Catechol Surface Modification of TiO_2 for the Development of High Performance Photoelectrochemical Biosensors

摘要

DNA biosensors are chemical sensors which are used to detect concentrations of specific DNA sequences or register DNA related biological events. There is significant interest in research into the design and optimization of DNA biosensors as they allow for rapid detection of cancers and infectious diseases. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) techniques can be applied to achieve high performance DNA biosensors with low cost and ultra-sensitivity. In this work, we explored the surface modification of TiO_2 nanoparticles (NP) with various catechol molecules and used them to fabricate photoelectrodes for signal-off PEC DNA biosensors. Catechol modification provided dual functionality to the TiO_2 NP photoelectrodes: it enhanced their PEC response and provided a molecular linker for attaching probes that capture target DNA.