Amperometric enzyme electrodes of glucose and lactate based on poly(diallyldimethylammonium)-alginate-metal ion-enzyme biocomposites

Sodium alginate (AlgNa) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) were mixed to obtain an interpenetrating polymer composite via electrostatic interaction and then cast on an Au electrode surface, followed by incorporation of metal ions (e.g. Fe³⁺ or Ca²⁺, to form AlgFe or AlgCa hydrogel) and glucose oxidase (GOx) (or lactate oxidase (LOx)), to prepare amperometric enzyme electrodes. The interactions of PDDA, Alg, and Fe³⁺ are studied by visual inspection as well as microscopic and electrochemical methods. Under optimized conditions, the PDDA-AlgFe-enzyme/Au and PDDA-AlgCa-enzyme/Au electrodes can give good analytical performance (e.g. nM-scale limit of detection of glucose or lactate, and sensitivities > 50 μA cm⁻² mM⁻¹) in the first-generation biosensing mode, which are better than the reported analogs using typical polysaccharide biopolymers as enzyme-immobilization matrices. The enzyme electrodes also worked well in the second-generation biosensing mode in the coexistence of p-benzoquione or ferrocene monocarboxylic acid artificial mediator. Biofuel cells (BFCs) with the enzyme electrodes as the bioanodes and glucose (or lactate) as the biofuel were also fabricated with satisfactory results. The proposed protocols for preparation of high performance Alg-based biocomposites may find wide applications in bioanalysis.