Enhancing sensitivity of QCM for dengue type 1 virus detection using graphene-based polymer composites

Krongkaew Navakul,Suticha Chunta,Chak Sangma,Pa-thai Yenchitsomanus,Peter A. Lieberzeit

doi:10.1007/s00216-021-03410-8

Abstract

Graphene oxide-molecularly imprinted polymer composites (GO-MIP) have attracted significant attention as recognition materials in sensing due to their outstanding properties in terms of electrical and thermal conductivity, high mechanical modulus, and the comparably straightforward way to functionalize them. The aim of this study was to design a MIP-based sensor recognition material and enhance its sensitivity by blending it with GO for sensing a harmful dengue hemorrhagic fever pathogen, namely the dengue type 1 virus (DENV-1). Polymer composites comprising GO incorporated to an acrylamide (AAM)/methacrylic acid (MAA)/methyl methacrylate (MMA)/N-vinylpyrrolidone (VP) copolymer were synthesized and compared to the “pure” MIP, i.e., the copolymer without GO. The pure polymer revealed a zeta potential of + 9.9 ± 0.5 mV, whereas GO sheets prepared have a zeta potential of − 60.3 ± 2.7 mV. This results in an overall zeta potential of − 11.2 ± 0.2 mV of the composite. Such polymer composites seem appropriate to bind the positively charged DENV-1 particle (+ 42.2 ± 2.8 mV). GO-MIP coated onto 10-MHz quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors indeed revealed two times sensitivity compared to sensors based on the pure MIP. Furthermore, GO-polymer composites revealed imprinting factors of up to 21, compared to 3 of the pure MIP. When plotting the sensor characteristic in a semilogarithmic way, the composite sensor shows the linear response to DENV-1 in the concentration range from 100 to 103 pfu mL−1. The corresponding limits of detection (S/N = 3) and quantification (S/N = 10) are 0.58 and 1.94 pfu mL−1, respectively. Furthermore, imprinted polymer composites selectively bind DENV-1 without significant interference: DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4, respectively, yield 13–16% of DENV-1 signal. The sensor requires only about 15–20 min to obtain a result.Graphical abstract

Highlights

Published in the topical collection Analytical Applications of Biomimetic Recognition Elements with guest editors Maria C
graphene oxide (GO) sheets after synthesis led to a zeta potential of − 60.3 ± 2.7 mV due to the large number of carboxyl functionalities present on the surface
After exposing all composites to a Dengue virus (DENV)-1 solution at a concentration of 103 pfu mL−1, the zeta potentials of all polymers turned slightly positive again upon interaction: + 1.7 ± 0.1 mV for polymer A, +

Summary

Introduction

Published in the topical collection Analytical Applications of Biomimetic Recognition Elements with guest editors Maria C. Subsequent infection with another serotype may lead to antibody-dependent enhancement, producing non-neutralizing antibodies Those promote virus entry into host cells, leading to more severe damage to internal organs [3]. To tackle those issues, we present a rapid approach to both classify and directly quantify a DENV serotype, namely DENV-1 based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and mass-sensitive detection. Those allow for selectively re-binding the respective templates, e.g., biomolecules [6,7,8] Such biospecies are interesting target analytes for MIP-based sensing, because the polymers are usually much cheaper and more stable than recognition species from nature. Substantial research focusses on new strategies to modify surfacefunctionalized graphene oxide sheets for a range of applications [12, 14, 16]

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