Graphene oxide-Au nano particle coated quartz crystal microbalance biosensor for the real time analysis of carcinoembryonic antigen

A label-free quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) biosensor was developed for the selective and real-time estimation of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) through the present study. Graphene oxide-Au nanoparticles (GO-AuNPs) was in situ synthesised on the surface of the QCM electrode and the antibody of CEA (monoclonal anti-CEA from mouse) was covalently immobilized on this layer as the bioreceptor for CEA. Mercaptoacetic acid–EDC–NHS reaction mechanism was used for anti-CEA immobilization. The effect of oxygen plasma treatment of the QCM electrode surface before bioreceptor preparation on the performance of the biosensor was tested and was found promising. CEA solutions with various concentrations were analysed using the bioreceptors to estimate the sensitivity and detection limit of the biosensor. The biosensors selectively recognized and captured CEA biomolecules with a detection limit of 0.06 and 0.09 ng mL(−1) of CEA for oxygen plasma-treated (E2) and untreated (E1) bioreceptors, respectively. The sensitivity was estimated at 102 and 79 Hz, respectively, for E2 and E1. Clinical serum samples were analysed and the results were found in good agreement with the ELISA analysis. Long term stability was also found to be excellent. Langmuir adsorption isotherm was also conducted using the experimental results.