One-Step Synthesis of Tunable Zinc-Based Nanohybrids as an Ultrasensitive DNA Signal Amplification Platform

Herein, we demonstrated a one-step route for the manufacturing of polypyrrole (PPy)/zinc nanohybrids with tunable elemental composition and nanoscale component mixing resolution by using an ultrafast (within tens of seconds) microwave approach for ultrasensitive DNA biosensors. The zinc-based nanoparticles (i.e., MWPPy/ZnO and MWPPy/ZnS) were produced by loading zinc acetate (ZnAc2) on PPy under the electromagnetic environment of a microwave with or without sulfur powder in one pot. Then, the signal amplification platforms were fabricated by modifying the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with the obtained nanohybrids. It was found that both of the resultant MWPPy/ZnO and MWPPy/ZnS were suitable for ultrasensitive DNA molecule detection of the gastric carcinoma related PIK3CA gene ascribing to their unique hybrid nanostructures and surface characteristics. Experimental results revealed that the proposed GCE/MWPPy/ZnO sensor showed a linear range of 1.0 × 10–10 to 1.0 × 10–13 M. Notably, the GCE/MWPPy/ZnS sensor was endowed with promising DNA hybrid selection with a minimum concentration response of 1.0 × 10–18 M. The corresponding detection limit was, respectively, found to be 2.90 × 10–11 and 7.73 × 10–21 M for MWPPy/ZnO- and MWPPy/ZnS-based biosensors. Furthermore, reliable determination of single-base and two-base mismatched DNA are more attractive, which greatly supported the application of the constructed zinc-based nanohybrids for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphism in genetic diseases, biological infectious pathogens, or warning against bio-warfare agents.