Highly stable and regenerative graphene–diamond hybrid electrochemical biosensor for fouling target dopamine detection

Abstract

Graphene is widely recognized as a promising nanomaterial for the construction of high-performance electrochemical biosensors. However, the lack of strong interfacial forces between graphene and conductive substrates is a bottleneck in the fabrication of highly stable graphene electrodes. In this work, few-layer graphene was directly formed on a high pressure high temperature (HPHT) diamond substrate via sp3-to-sp2 conversion by catalytic thermal treatment and using diamond itself as the carbon source. The hybrid electrode prototype was also highly conductive and had a linear electrochemical response to dopamine in the concentration range of 5 μM – 2 mM, with a low detection limit of 200 nM. After prolonged and repeated exposure to dopamine, electrode fouling was observed which led to sensitivity degradation. Based on the strong interfacial bonding between graphene and HPHT diamond, regeneration of the fouled electrode and full performance recovery would be easily achieved by ultrasonic cleaning. The hybrid electrode is highly robust, and shows potential in its application to the detection of biofouling molecules, food processing and wastewater treatment.