Electron transfer kinetics at a biotin/avidin patterned glassy carbon electrode

Abstract Photolithographic techniques using a laser interference pattern were used to attach photobiotin to micron-sized stripes on the surface of a carbon electrode. Fluorophore-tagged avidin was attached to this spatially-patterned biotin with essentially no loss in spatial resolution. The kinetics of the glassy carbon surface were examined to see if electron transfer sites could indeed be segregated from the attachment sites of photobiotin-immobilized avidin. The ECL of luminol and SECM were used to verify the segregation between underivatized sites (which exhibit normal electron transfer kinetics) and extensively derivatized biotin/avidin surfaces (which presumably exhibit slow electron transfer kinetics). Both techniques were found to be capable of differentiating the protein-covered surface from bare carbon with sufficient resolution to tell whether a significant portion of the carbon surface is still active and available to detect the product of an enzyme generated analyte. These results indicate that extensive biotin/avidin derivatization of the surface does decrease the electron transfer rate of a carbon electrode, and that the photolithographic approach was able to modify specific sections of the electrode surface, while leaving other regions untouched and available for facile electron transfer. This leads to a more general protocol for the construction of enzyme-based biosensors which utilize diffusable mediators.