Effects of acid oxidation on carbon nanotube based electrodes for detection of oxidized LDL

Carbon nanotubes are sometimes treated with an acid or mixture of acids to increase their solubility. From results of our study of single-walled carbon nanotubes, we reported that a CNT-based electrode can detect oxidation of low density-lipoproteins. As described herein, we investigated the effects of acid treatment time on electrode sensitivity for detection of oxidized low-density lipoproteins. Response capabilities of CNT-based electrodes for detecting ox-LDL were improved by acid treatment. However, further increased treatment time degraded their sensitivity. Although detailed mechanisms related to the response are under investigation, results show that an optimum condition exists for acid treatment condition to detect ox-LDL using an electrode.