Conducting polymers and their application in amperometric biosensors

The development of reagentless enzyme electrodes implies the covalent binding of enzymes, redox mediators and/or coenzymes on the sensor surface to prevent contamination of the sample by sensor components. Additionally, miniaturization and mass production of enzyme electrodes require techniques for biosensor assembling avoiding manual deposition procedures. The electrochemical deposition of conducting-polymer layers occurs at the surface of an electrode independent of its size an form. Subsequent to the functionalization of conducting-polymer films, electrode surfaces can be obtained which are suitable for the binding of enzymes, coenzymes or redox mediators. The morphology of the conducting polymer films can be adapted to exclude cooxidizable compounds from approaching the electrode surface, thus improving the selectivity of the amperometric enzyme electrodes. The deposition and functionalization of polypyrrole, polyazulen and poly(dithienylpyrrole) as well as the covalent binding of redox mediators, enzymes and mediator-modified enzymes will be described. Main emphasis is focused towards an improvement of the electrontransfer reactions between the immobilized enzymes and the modified electrode surfaces. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: D.Dt.F.QN1(9,57) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman