Vapor-liquid-solid grown silica nanowire based electrochemical glucose biosensor

Vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) grown silica nanowires (SiO(2)NWs) have been deposited electrophoretically on a gold electrode and utilized for covalent immobilization of glucose oxidase (GOx). Covalent binding has been achieved via 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) modification and N-ethyl-N'-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide chemistry. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry techniques have been used to characterize SiO2NW and GOx/APTES/SiO2NW/Au bioelectrode. Electrochemical studies reveal that SiO2NW increases the effective electro-active surface area thus resulting in higher loading of enzyme. Response characteristics show linearity in the range of interest 25-300 mg dl(-1), with a detection limit of 11 mg dl(-1), sensitivity: 0.463 mu A (mg dl(-1))(-1) and regression coefficient of 0.992.