Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Immunosensor Platforms for Dual Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Antigen and Antibody based on Gold Nanoparticle Functionalized Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites

Abstract

In this work, we report a facile synthesis of graphene oxide-gold (GO-Au) nanocomposites by electrodeposition. The fabricated electrochemical immunosensors are utilized for the dual detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen and SARS-CoV-2 antibody. The GO-Au nanocomposites has been characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for its biosensing properties. The linear detection range of the SARS-CoV-2 antigen immunosensor is 10.0 ag mL^-1 to 50.0 ng mL^-1, whereas that for the antibody immunosensor ranges from 1.0 fg mL^-1 to 1.0 ng mL^-1. The calculated limit of detection (LOD) of the SARS-CoV-2 antigen immunosensor is 3.99 ag mL^-1, and that for SARS-CoV-2 antibody immunosensor is 1.0 fg mL^-1 with high sensitivity. The validation of the immunosensor has also been carried out on patient serum and patient swab samples from COVID-19 patients. The results suggest successful utilization of the immunosensors with a very low detection limit enabling its use in clinical samples. Further work is needed for the standardization of the results and translation in screen-printed electrodes for use in portable commercial applications.

Keywords: GO−Au nanocomposites; SARS-CoV-2 antibody; SARS-CoV-2 antigen; electrochemical immunosensor; electrodeposition.