Electrochemical detection of short HIV sequences on chitosan/Fe3O4 nanoparticle based screen printed electrodes

In this study, a novel CS/Fe3O4 nanobiocomposite-based platform for electrochemical detection of HIV-1 was developed. The most attractive feature of this system is a suitable microenvironment (Fe3O4 nanoparticles) which could contribute to electron transfer and thus sensitivity enhancement when using methylene blue (MB) as an external mediator and Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. The proposed screen printed electrode (SPE) had a low detection limit (as low as 50 pM), acceptable stability and good reproducibility, which would be valuable for clinical diagnosis. In addition, this sensing interface may be feasibly adapted for multiplexed detection of other species of bacterial pathogens.