Sensitive Electrochemiluminescence Biosensor Based on the Target Trigger Difference of the Electrostatic Interaction between an ECL Reporter and the Electrode Surface

The discrepancy of the electrostatic interaction of negatively charged signal molecules to long and short DNA strands of the modified electrode surface has been used for the first time to the develop an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor for human papillomavirus 16 (HPV 16) DNA detection. The short single-stranded capture probe (CP) was modified first on the surface of the gold electrode, which only has a small amount of negative charge. The electrostatic interaction between the negatively charged tris(2,2′-bipyridyl) ruthenium(II) chloride hexahydrate-doped SiO2 nanoparticles (Ru@SiO2 NPs) and CP is weak, hence Ru@SiO2 NPs easily diffuse to the surface of the electrode to generate a strong ECL signal. Hybrid chain reaction (HCR) amplification products (long strand dsDNA) were prepared in homogeneous solution in advance. When the target was present, the dsDNA can be connected on the electrode surface and cause the enhancement of the negative charge on the electrode surface. Owing to electrostatic interaction and steric hindrance, Ru@SiO2 NPs are difficult to diffuse to the electrode surface, resulting in a significantly reduced ECL signal. The decrease of ECL signal is linearly correlated with the logarithm of the HPV concentration under optimal conditions, with the detection range being 0.1 fM −5 pM with a limit of 1.41 aM. This innovative methodology expands the application of electrostatic interaction in ECL sensing, but can also easily develop biosensors for detecting other targets by changing the DNA sequence used in this strategy.