Project Title: Carbon Nanomaterial Based Interdigital Electrode Arrays for Label-Free Biosensing
Research overview. The development of biosensors based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy has led to the design of interdigital electrode (IDE) microchips that may sense DNA and enzymatic reactions through capacitance and change transfer resistance measurements. The use of IDE on polymer substrates may be possible through the use of modern ink jet printers. The REU student will be working with different ink nanomaterials for the production of carbon based IDEs. These inks will be prepared through the use of carbon nanoonions, graphene quantum dots, and reduced graphene oxide nanomaterials as the carbon source for the printing of electrodes on plastic (e.g. 10µm wide and 2mm long). The carbon-based IDEs will be functionalized with carbonyl and OH groups for the covalent bonding of single stranded DNA probes as well as biomolecules for the biosensing of specific DNA sequences for different diseases, e.g. tuberculosis, or hazardous materials, e.g. anthrax, and oxidative stress markers, e.g. NOx. This project is related to the NSF funded project titled “Label-Free Electrochemical Capacitance DNA Sensing with Passive Wireless Radio Frequency Identification Sensor Technology” (CHE-1152940).