One-step process for fabricating paper-based solid-state electrochemiluminescence sensor based on functionalized graphene

Abstract

Taking advantage of simple manipulation of the screen printed electrodes, with the assistance of different functionalized graphene materials, a simple and time-saving one-step process was developed for fabricating solid-state electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensors on paper-based chips (PCs). The solid-state Ru(bpy)32+ or co-reactant ECL sensors could be facilely obtained by screen-printing the mixture of Ru(bpy)32+/poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) functionalized graphene nanosheets (PSSG)/carbon paste or branch poly(ethylenimine) (BPEI)-functionalized graphene nanosheets (BPEIG)/carbon paste through one-step process on the PCs, respectively. The ECL behavior of Ru(bpy)32+ ECL sensor was investigated using tripropylamine (TPA) and detection limit (S/N=3) of 5.0nM was obtained. It also exhibited excellent reproducibility and linear relationship with the concentration of TPA (R=0.991). In addition, the ECL behaviors of the coreactant sensor were measured for tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) by inhibition method. A linear relationship between the ECL intensity and logarithm of the concentration of TCH was gained in a range of 1×10−8 to 1×10−6M and the detection limit was as low as 2.22nM. Therefore the one-step process for fabricating paper-based ECL sensor was confirmed with the advantages of simplicity, high efficiency and potential applicability.