Biocompatible peptide hydrogels with excellent antibacterial and catalytic properties for electrochemical sensing application

Abstract

A unique electrochemical sensor was constructed based on designed peptide hydrogels loaded with ciprofloxacin and gold nanoparticles, which exhibited excellent biocompatibility, antibacterial capability and electrochemical catalytic property. The peptide hydrogel was prepared base on the self-assembly of a designed short peptide sequence of Phe-Glu-Lys-Phe (FEKF) with the N-terminal modified with a fluorene methoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) group. The peptide hydrogel possessed nanofibrous network structure and exhibited good shear-thinning behavior and excellent biocompatibility, and it can be easily doped with gold nanoparticles and the antibiotic drug ciprofloxacin. The loaded antibacterial drug offered remarkable antibacterial activity of the hydrogel, while the loaded gold nanoparticles rendered the hydrogel excellent electrochemical catalytic capability towards the detection of a typical neurotransmitter dopamine. The combination of the antibacterial property and the electrochemical catalytic ability within a peptide hydrogel ensured the development of sensitive and antibacterial electrochemical sensors, and this strategy was expected to promote the construction of implantable sensors without infection.