Real-time biomolecule detection using GMR chip-based sensor with green-synthesized Fe3O4/rGO nanocomposites as magnetic labels

Abstract

The availability of a rapid, low-cost, and easy-to-use device to monitor the bovine serum albumin (BSA) level in human blood and urine is vital in early disease detection. This work reports a biosensor system based on a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) chip as a transducer integrated with Fe3O4/rGO magnetic labels for BSA protein detection. The commercial chip AAL024 is utilized as the GMR sensor, combined with an Arduino microcontroller (AM) and a basic differential amplifier to acquire the digital output voltage. The Fe3O4/rGO nanocomposites were synthesized by a hybrid process based on the green synthesis route utilizing plant extracts. The nanocomposites exhibit superparamagnetic behavior, affecting the magnetic label detection quality. In investigating sensor performance, Fe3O4/rGO nanocomposites can generate sufficient stray fields under a 4 Oe of bias magnetic field (HB). A larger net stray field is produced by a higher concentration of magnetic labels, which suggests that there are more Fe3O4 nanoparticles attached to the sensor surface. Further, the effectiveness of the biosensor was evaluated by detecting the BSA protein. As a result, a high sensitivity of 22.98 mV/(mg/mL) and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.3 mg/mL were obtained in detecting Fe3O4/rGO(5:1)/BSA with a voltage signal that can be collected in 30 s. Besides its high sensitivity, low LOD, and fast detection, the sensor exhibits remarkable reproducibility and stability, as evidenced by the relative signal deviation (RSD) range of 1.1 – 5.6%. These findings demonstrate that the GMR chip-based sensor integrated with Fe3O4/rGO magnetic labels provides a simple biosensor system with real-time electronic readout.