Assembly of multi-functional nanocomponents on periodic nanotube array for biosensors

Patterned carbon nanotube arrays (PCNTAs) with reduced density and length were developed with polystyrene sphere masked catalyst dots followed by the plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition method. The nanotubes were then uniformly coated with electropolymerised polypyrrole (PPy). The coating thickness was conformally adjustable. Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) together with glucose oxidase (Gox) were doped into the PPy film on the nanotubes to develop a high-performance PCNTA glucose sensor. The sensitivity of the sensor was improved by the co-existence of Gox and AuNP on the carbon nanotube. Moreover, in contrast to previous reported PCNTA glucose sensors, the design herein utilised the entire surface of nanotubes as active sensing areas in order to maximise the faradic currents. This research outlines a practical avenue to fabricate high-performance PCNTA sensor chips with multiple molecules and functional nano-architectures.