Continuous real-time measurement of specific targets
in complex
biological samples is of great significance for early diagnosis and
treatment of diseases and thus enables achievement of personalized
medicine. Electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors are good candidates
to fill this role due to their high specificity, sensitivity, rapid
detection, and simple preparation. However, this sensor class suffers
from severe baseline drift in the complex matrix probably due to the
nonspecific adsorption of components. Here, we introduce a series
of self-assembled monolayers with a variety of hydrophobic functional
groups into an E-AB sensor platform, achieving enhancement of the
antifouling performance and thus the detection performance (e.g.,
stability, sensitivity, and specificity). We reveal that the antifouling
performance enhanced by such hydrophobic SAMs is probably due to its
instant adsorption of components onto the surface, rather than the
repelling of these components by hydrophilic SAMs in previous reports.
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