Flexible conducting platforms based on PEDOT and graphite nanosheets for electrochemical biosensing applications

Abstract

Carbon nanomaterials are usually employed for improving the electrical and electrochemical properties of conducting polymer electrodes. However, low-cost of production, scalable simple procedures and adequate integration of the components at the molecular level within the composites become a challenge when dealing with real life applications. In this work, we present a novel strategy for producing graphite nanosheets (GNS) dispersed in the solvent employed then for the chemical synthesis of PEDOT, which allows producing composite nanofilms on plastic substrates for the construction of transparent and flexible all-polymer electrodes. By an optimized experimental procedure, we achieved a proper integration of PEDOT and GNS within ultrathin (<100 nm) composite films and good enough conductivity to ensure adequate electrochemical response without the requirement of conducting base electrodes. We tested the performance of these platforms for real applications by developing glucose biosensors by molecular integration of supramolecular assembly of glucose oxidase and an electroactive polyelectrolyte on top of the PEDOT-GNS coatings. The incorporation of GNS does not only improve the voltammetric response of the resulting all-polymer electrodes but also produces a better integration of the electrochemically active assembly.