Comparative studies on zirconia and graphene composites obtained by one-step and stepwise electrodeposition for deoxyribonucleic acid sensing

摘要

In this paper, the comparison of two kinds of electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGNO) and zirconia composites, obtained by one-step (ZrO2-ERGNO) and stepwise (ZrO2/ERGNO) electrodeposition for DNA sensing, is systematically studied. The resulting composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and differential pulse voltammetry. The results indicated that the ZrO2-ERGNO presented fine globular nanostructure. However, ZrO2/ERGNO presented agglomerate massive microstructure due to the absence of the oxygen-containing groups of graphene oxide, confirming the oxygen-containing groups provided a better affinity for the deposition of ZrO2. Due to the strong binding of the phosphate groups of DNA with the zirconia film, DNA probes were attached on the ZrO2-based composites. ZrO2-ERGNO/Au owning fine nanostructure presented larger surface area than microstructured ZrO2/ERGNO/Au. Moreover, compared with microstructured ZrO2/ERGNO, the nanostructured ZrO2-ERGNO provided more accessible space for immobilized DNA probe hybridization with target sequence, which consequently resulted in higher hybridization efficiency. Therefore, the ZrO2-ERGNO was chosen for fabricating DNA sensor with a limit of detection 1.21 x 10~(-14)molL~(-1).