Advantages of the Biomimetic Nanostructured Films as an Immobilization Method vs. the Carbon Paste Classical Method

Tyrosinase-based biosensors containing a phthalocyanine as electron mediator have been prepared by two different methods. In the first approach, the enzyme and the electron mediator have been immobilized in carbon paste electrodes. In the second method, they have been introduced in an arachidic acid Langmuir-Blodgett nanostructured film that provides a biomimetic environment. The sensing properties of non-nanostructured and nanostructured biosensors towards catechol, catechin and phenol have been analyzed and compared. The enzyme retains the biocatalytic properties in both matrixes. However, the nanostructured biomimetic films show higher values of maximum reaction rates and lowest apparent Michaelis-Menten constants. In both types of sensors, the sensitivity follows the decreasing order catechol > catechin > phenol. The detection limits observed are in the range of 1.8–5.4 μM for Langmuir-Blodgett biosensors and 8.19–8.57 μM for carbon paste biosensors. In summary, it has been demonstrated that the Langmuir-Blodgett films provide a biomimetic environment and nanostructured biosensors show better performances in terms of kinetic, detection limit and stability. OPEN ACCESS Catalysts 2012, 2 518