Published June 18, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Proteinase-Sculptured 3D-Printed Graphene/Polylactic Acid Electrodes as Potential Biosensing Platforms: Towards Enzymatic Modeling of 3D-Printed Structures

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Center for Advanced Functional Nanorobots, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Czech Republic
  • 2. Center for Advanced Functional Nanorobots, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Czech Republic, Department of Polymers, Faculty of Chemical Technology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 16628, Czech Republic
  • 3. Center for Advanced Functional Nanorobots, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Czech Republic, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea; Future Energy and Innovation Laboratory, Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 656/123, Brno, CZ-616 00, Czech Republic

Description

3D printing technologies are currently appealing for the research community due to their demonstrated
versatility for different scientific applications. One of the most commonly used materials for 3D printing is
polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable polymer that can be fully or partially digested by enzymes such as
proteinase K.This work seeks to exploit PLA’s biodegradability to selectively and reproducibly sculpt 3Dprinted
graphene/PLA surfaces to turn them into sensitive electroactive platforms. Proteinase K-catalyzed
digestion of 3D-printed graphene/PLA electrodes is proposed as an environmentally friendly, highly
controllable, and reproducible activation procedure of 3D-printed electrodes. Proteinase K digests PLA in
a controllable fashion, exposing electroactive graphene sheets embedded within the 3D-printed
structures to the solution and therefore achieving a tailorable electrode performance. A proof-of-concept
biosensing application is proposed, based on the immobilization of enzyme alkaline phosphatase at the
sculptured electrodes with the subsequent electrochemical detection of 1-naphthol in aqueous media.
This work attempts to continue demonstrating the potential of 3D printing in electroanalytical
applications, as well as to explore the exciting possibilities arising from merging biotechnological
processes with these manufacturing procedures.

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
UGMNanoSens - Black phosphorous quantum dots as fluorescent nanosensing platforms for detecting unauthorised genetically modified material 795347