Polythiophene/SiO(2) nanocomposites prepared in the presence of surfactants and their application to glucose biosensing

• Published in: Synthetic metals 2009-10, Vol.159 (19-20), p.2022-2028
• Main Authors: Uygun, A, Yavuz, A G, Sen, S, Omastova, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0379-6779
• DOI: 10.1016/j.synthmet.2009.07.009

Conducting polythiophene/SiO(2) (PT/SiO(2)) nanocomposites were prepared in the presence of three different surfactants (anionic, cationic and non-ionic) via chemical oxidative polymerization in an anhydrous medium to create an enzyme-immobilized polymeric amperometric biosensor. An anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBSNa), a cationic surfactant, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB), and a non-ionic surfactant, poly(ethylene oxide) (20) sorbitan monolaurate (Tween 20), were used as additives. The properties of the nanocomposites were investigated, as a function of surfactant type and the amount of PT contained, by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM results reveal that all PT/SiO(2) samples form nanometer-dimensioned globular structures. The highest conductivity obtained was 2.7x10(-(2Scm(-(1 for a PT/SiO(2)-Tween 20 nanocomposite. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the residue decreases with increasing amount of PT. Glucose oxidase (GOX) was immobilized by crosslinking to the conducting PT/SiO(2) composites and was used for amperometric detection of glucose.