Immobilization of laccase on polymer grafted polytetrafluoroethylene membranes for biosensor construction

In this study, Trametes versicolor laccase was immobilized on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes using two different techniques, entrapment to gelatin and covalent immobilization to the surface. For surface immobilization, functional groups were formed on PTFE surface by radiofrequency (RF) plasma treatment followed by polymer grafting. Two different polymers, polyacrylamide (pAAm) and polyacrylic acid (pAAc) were tried. For polyacrylamide grafted PTFE, a two-step polymerization process was used. The membranes were first treated with hydrogen plasma and pAAm grafted PTFE (pAAm-g-PTFE) was then formed by argon plasma treatment. To produce pAAc grafted PTFE (pAAc-g-PTFE), the surface was first treated with argon plasma and AAc was then attached to the surface by heat treatment (70 °C, 6 h). For both cases, an optimized carbodiimide coupling reaction was used for laccase immobilization. Enzyme activity was measured by an oxygen electrode using guaiacol as substrate. All three biosensing membranes were characterized and compared in terms of optimum working conditions, storage stability and reusability. Our study concluded that although a higher activity was obtained by gelatin entrapped laccase, its mechanical instability and poor storage life makes the gelatin biosensor unattractive for multiple usages and for field measurements. pAAc-g-PTFE biosensor was found to be more stable and highly reusable (ca. 50 times) when compared with the other two biosensors. In addition, its sensitivity was suitable for field applications. Therefore, the pAAc-g-PTFE biosensor could be proposed as an alternative on-site detection tool for phenolic compound monitoring.