Templated J-Aggregate Nanotubes for the Detection of Dopamine

Abstract

J-aggregates of dye molecules are a unique supramolecular structure, which shows great promise in photoelectric devices due to its remarkable optical and transport properties. In this paper, we report the templated formation of J-aggregate nanotubes by the adsorption of 3,3'-diethylthiacarbocyanine iodide on the self-assembled nanotubes of lithocholic acid. The optical and electronic properties of the templated J-aggregate nanotubes are studied. A sensor platform is fabricated by depositing the J-aggregate nanotubes on interdigitated gold electrodes for the detection of dopamine (DA). We find that the current change of the J-aggregate nanotube-based sensor platform in response to DA is linear in the concentration range from 10 nM to 70 nM, giving the detection limit of 0.27 nM.