A Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Based Biosensor for Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopic Analysis

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based impedimetric biosensor was developed for the electrochemical analysis of low-weight biological molecules. Synthetic polymeric matrices with specific and selective recognition sites, which are complementary to the shapes and sizes of the functional groups of analytes, can be prepared using the molecular imprinting method. In this study, a small molecule, tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (TRIS), was used to coat a graphite pencil tip with a TRIS-containing polyacrylamide gel to fabricate a working electrode. The electrode modification and performance were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The electrochemical properties of the modified electrodes were observed using an electrochemical cell comprising a Ag/AgCl reference electrode, a Pt wire as the counter electrode, and a pencil graphite tip as the working electrode using a redox-phosphate buffer solution with different concentrations of TRIS and Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The I–V and impedance performance of the chemically modified graphite pencil-tip electrodes exhibited decreased conductance and increased impedance correlating with  the increase in TRIS concentration. Thus, MIP-based small-molecule biosensor prototypes can be promising economical replacements over other expensive sensors.