Two birds with one stone: integrating exfoliation and biorecognition in multi- walled carbon nanotubes by functionalization with biomolecules

RIVAS, GUSTAVO A.; DALMASSO, PABLO D; MICHAEL LOPEZ MUJICA; TAMBORELLI, ALEJANDRO; RODRÍGUEZ, MARCELA; RUBIANES, MARÍA DOLORES; GALLAY, PABLO; VASCHETTI, VIRGINIA; REARTES, DAIANA; ROCIO DELPINO; BRAVO, LEONARDO; FACUNDO AGHEMO

Tirana

Congreso; NanoBalkan 2023; 2023

The development of biosensors able to meet the current requirements of Clinical Chemistry is avery important challenge in the field of electrochemical sensors. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) havedemonstrated to be an excellent material to build innovative and versatile electrochemical(bio)sensing platforms due to their unique properties, the possibility of easy functionalization, andthe excellent contributions for an efficient transduction of the biorecognition event. Differentalternatives to reduce the strong tendency of CNTs to form bundles and to improve theircompatibility with the solvent have been reported in the last decades. In this talk, I will present anoverview of the “smart” strategies to functionalize CNTs reported by our group in the last years,based on the rational selection of functionalization agents that simultaneously allow the exfoliationof CNTs and provide them with particular (bio)recognition properties.Typical examples will be discussed in this presentation in connection with the use of criticallyselected biomolecules as functionalization agents: i) site-specific anchoring proteins like avidin, toobtain a multipurpose platform for the development of any kind of biosensor by simply selectingthe adequate biotinylated biorecognition element, and concanavalin A, to obtain useful buildingblocks for glycobiomolecule-based biosensors; ii) enzymes like glucose oxidase and pseudo-enzymes like cytochrome c to obtain enzymatic biosensors without additional enzymeimmobilization steps; iii) immunoglobulins to develop very innovative and versatile immunosensingplatforms; iv) cysteine to take advantage of its complexing capability, and v) critically designedligands to mimic the glycobiomolecule-anchoring capability of concanavalin A.In summary, the excellent results provided by the biofunctionalized CNT-based biosensors in termsof sensitivity, selectivity, reproducibility, and ease of use, corroborate the potential and versatilityof the resulting biomolecule-CNT nanohybrids, and demonstrate the importance of the rationalbiomolecule selection to functionalize the nanostructures, paving the way for further label-free,friendly and efficient biosensing applications.The authors acknowledge CONICET, ANPCyT, and SECyT-UNC for the financial support.