Carbon nanomaterials as enzyme host media and their electrochemical applications in biosensors and biofuel cells

Abstract

There have been dramatic developments in nanotechnology, especially nano-materials and nano-structure. The physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of these nano-materials are noticed, as these properties are different from those of bulk materials. Lots of researches have been reported applyng nano-materials and nanostructures to nano-fabricaion, composite, nano-electronics, and so on. One of the main research topic is fabrication of biosensor using nano-materials as a fusion technology, nano-bio technology. Quantum dots (0D), nanowire, nanotube, nanofiber (1D), and mesoporous media (3D) are commonly have been used as a host media for immobilization of biomolecules. The large surface area and size compatibility of nano-material help biomolecules to be stably contact to nano-material. These nano-materials provide magnetic response, optical response, of conductivity enhancement to immobilized biomolecules, acting as a signal enhancement of transducer. In this study, the carbon-based conductive nano-materials, mesoporous carbon and carbon nanotube, were used for enzyme immobilization media. Due to their electrical conductivity, the enzyme-immobilized carbon materials have advantages in electrochemical application, biosensor and biofuel cell in the sense of electron transfer. There were suggested the immobilization methods for each nano-material, and their electrochemical properties were characterized. The carbon-based nano-materials was shown as a good candidate of a host matrix for immobilization of biomolecules, and their electrochemical properties, sensitivity in biosensor and power output in biofuel cell, were enhanced by proper immobilization method corresponding to the structure of each nano-material.