Photocatalysis-Induced Renewable Field-Effect Transistor for Protein Detection.

The field-effect transistor (FET) biosensor has attracted extensive attentions, due to its unique features in detecting various biomolecules with high sensitivity and selectivity. However, currently used FET biosensors obtaining from expensive and elaborate micro/nanofabrication are always disposable because the analyte cannot be efficiently removed after detection. In this work, we established a photocatalysis-induced renewable graphene-FET (G-FET) biosensor for protein detection, by layer-to-layer assembling reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and RGO-encapsulated TiO2 composites to form a sandwiching RGO@TiO2 structure on a prefabricated FET sensor surface. After immobilization of anti-D-Dimer on the graphene surface, sensitive detection of D-Dimer was achieved with the detection limits of 10 pg/mL in PBS and 100 pg/mL in serum, respectively. Notably, renewal of the FET biosensor for recycling measurements was significantly realized by photocatalytically cleaning the substances on the graphene surface. This work demonstrates for the first time the development and application of photocatalytically renewable G-FET biosensor, paving a new way for G-FET sensor toward a plethora of diverse applications.