Development of an amperometric biosensor for dopamine using novel mesoporous silicon nanoparticles fabricated via a facile stain etching approach

Abstract

Mesoporous silicon (PSi) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was studied for the first time for efficient detection of dopamine (DA). A facile stain etching method was used to synthesize the single crystalline PSi nanoparticles, which was confirmed by the SAED. The morphological study of PSi NPs by FESEM and TEM showed the random distribution of pores with less than 25 nm pore size. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were also used in characterizing the PSi NPs. The-as fabricated PSi NPs modified GCE biosensor can measure a wide range of dopamine (0.5–333.3 μM) in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) with a sensitivity value of 0.2715 μAμM−1cm−2 with an extremely low limit of detection (LOD) of 3.2 nM. This non-enzymatic dopamine biosensor was also tested for the possible impact of common interfering substances, which showed very good selectivity. The current modified electrode was further employed to analyze human blood serums and dopamine hydrochloride injection samples to detect DA, where it showed very acceptable analytical results. Additionally, the current PSi/GCE biosensor showed exceptional reproducibility, repeatability, and long-term stability.