Highly sensitive electrochemiluminescent immunosensor based on gold nanoparticles-functionalized zinc oxide nanorod and poly(amidoamine)-graphene for detecting brombuterol

Abstract β-adrenergic agonists (β-agonists) recognized as a growth promoter will reflect the health of human. Sensitive detection of β-agonists in foodstuff is valuable for the health of animals and human. A novel ultrasensitive competition-type electrochemiluminescent (ECL) immunosensor was developed for detecting brombuterol (Brom) based on CdTe Quantum dot (QDs) and polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM, G2) modified graphene oxide (GO) (CdTe QDs-PAMAM-GO composite) as bioprobe for the first time. The surface of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was coated with AuNPs–ZnO NRs composite film as the platform, which facilitated the electronic transmission rate to enhance the ECL intensity and provide enough active sites for capturing antibody. The resulting ECL immunosensor enabled the real samples detection of Brom with a lower detection limit of 0.3 pg mL −1 (S/N=3) and a wider linear range from 0.001 to 500 ng mL −1 . The proposed immunosensor coupled with the excellent advantages of CdTe QDs-PAMAM-GO and AuNPs–ZnO NRs composite displayed high sensitivity and long-term stability, and provided an approach for determining other important biomarkers.