Atmospheric Plasma Treatment Enhances the Biosensing Properties of Graphene Oxide-Silver Nanoparticle Composite

Abstract

This work presents an approach to tailor the properties of the graphene oxide-silver nanoparticle (GO-AgNPs) composite using room temperature atmospheric plasma treatment. In particular, the aerosolized deposition of graphene oxide-silver nanoparticle composite (GO-AgNPs), the rapid reduction of GO at room temperature, and AgNPs surface excitation are investigated in this work. The plasma treatment of aerosolized GO leads to the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) formation which is observed from the increase in D to G band ratio from 0.65 for GO to 1.2 for rGO in the Raman spectra. Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, and Selected Area Electron Diffraction patterns show that the plasma treatment leads to the morphological changes and the Electrochemical Impedance spectroscopy results show the improvement in the conductivity of the rGO-AgNP composite. To demonstrate the efficacy of the technique, plasma treated GO and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) composite is used for the electrode surface modification of the commercial screen-printed electrodes for the cortisol detection. The cyclic voltammetry scans to detect cortisol shows that the sensitivity of the surface modified electrodes is increased after plasma treatment. This room temperature atmospheric plasma annealing technique is of specific interest for rapid processing of nanoparticles on flexible surfaces without subjecting them to elevated temperatures.

Plasma-Induced Enhancement in Electronic Properties of Gold Nanoparticles: Application in Electrochemical Biosensing of Cortisol

“…The optical emission spectra (OES) was carried out to characterize the plasma and to investigate the species present. There were a few oxygen species present in the plasma . After the plasma treatment, these species reacted with the surface of AuNPs to form a surface oxide and result in a reduction in the size of AuNPs (from 13 to 7 nm).…”

“…Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of bare SPCE (i), AuNPs drop-cast SPCE (ii), aerosol-deposited AuNPs (iii), and after plasma deposition (iv). Adapted with the permission from ref .…”

Carbon Nanomaterials-Based Screen-Printed Electrodes for Sensing Applications

“…The rGO acted as a stable support for the anchoring of the materials in the SPCE, facilitating the assembly of the structure in addition to contributing to an increase in the electrical conductivity of the sensor. Bhansali et al [ 33 ] proposed a modified rGO-AgNPs/SPCE sensor for cortisol determination. In this work, the reduction of GO was performed by atmospheric plasma treatment at room temperature.…”

Quantification of pre- and post-air plasma-treated graphene oxide dispersed polymer blends for high dielectric applications

“…[25][26][27][28][29] Argon (Ar) plasma was developed for the functionalization of GO-Ag Nps (silver nanoparticles) based polymer nanoblends demonstrated for the solar cell, electrochemical sensors, supercapacitors and batteries. 30,31 Direct plasma functionalized GO demonstrated enhanced electrical performance because it was able to transfer charge carriers due to activated sites during plasma exposure. Due to the fluorination of GO, the specific surface area was increased, which mutually met the requirement for designing the supercapacitors.…”