New materials for electrochemical sensing II. Rigid carbon–polymer biocomposites

Abstract

Rigid conducting carbon–polymer composites are ideal for the construction of electrochemical sensors. The plastic nature of these materials makes them modifiable, permitting the incorporation of fillers before they are cured. A great number of biological materials can be immobilised by blending them with these composites to form new biocomposite materials. These biocomposites not only act as reservoirs of the biological material but may also contain catalysts, mediators and cofactors that improve the response of the resulting electrochemical biosensors. One of the outstanding features of these conducting biomaterials is their rigidity, resulting in a high mechanical stability over time. Furthermore, the sensing surface can be renewed by a simple polishing procedure. The proximity of the redox centres of the biological material and the conducting sites on the sensing surface favours the transfer of electrons between electroactive species. This may in some cases permit the regeneration of the biological component without using cosubstrates and mediators. These biocomposites are prepared easily and they show improved electrochemical characteristics. This is very attractive for the mass fabrication of amperometric biosensors.