Ultrasensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor based on trimetallic nanocomposite signal amplification strategy for the ultrasensitive detection of CEA

A novel and ultrasensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor was designed for the quantitative detection of carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA). This immunosensor was developed by using the trimetallic NiAuPt nanoparticles on graphene nanosheets (NGs) nanosheets (NiAuPt-NGs) as excellent labels and β-cyclodextrin functionalized reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (CD-NGs) as the platform. The CD-NGs with high specific surface area good biocompatibility and the ideal dispersibility was used to capture the primary antibodies (Ab1) efficiently. The trimetallic NiAuPt-NGs nanocomposites were used as the labels for signal amplification, showing better electrocatalytic activity towards the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which is much better than that the monometallic Pt-NGs, bimetallic NiPt-NGs and AuPt-NGs due to the synergetic effect presented in NiAuPt-NGs. The NiAuPt-NGs nanocomposites consist of tightly coupled nanostructures of Au, Ni and Pt, which have neither an alloy nor a core-shell structure. Under the optimal conditions, a linear range from 0.001-100 ng/mL and a low detection limit of 0.27 pg/mL were obtained for CEA. The proposed electrochemical sandwich-type immunosensor may have a promising application in bioassay and it enriches the electrochemical immunoassays.