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Carbon nanospikes have improved sensitivity and antifouling properties for adenosine, hydrogen peroxide, and histamine

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Abstract

Carbon nanospikes (CNSs) are a new nanomaterial that has enhanced surface roughness and surface oxide concentration, increasing the sensitivity for dopamine detection. However, CNS-modified electrodes (CNSMEs) have not been characterized for other neurochemicals, particularly those with higher oxidation potentials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate CNSMEs for the detection of adenosine, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and histamine. The sensitivity increased with CNSs, and signals at CNSMEs were about 3.3 times higher than CFMEs. Normalizing for surface area differences using background currents, CNSMEs show an increased signal of 4.8 times for adenosine, 1.5 times for H2O2, and 2 times for histamine. CNSMEs promoted the formation of secondary products for adenosine and histamine, which enables differentiation from other analytes with similar oxidation potentials. CNSs also selectively enhance the sensitivity for adenosine and histamine compared to H2O2. A scan rate test reveals that adenosine is more adsorption-controlled at CNS electrodes than CFMEs. CNSMEs are antifouling for histamine, with less fouling because the polymers formed after histamine electrooxidation do not adsorb due to an elevated number of edge planes. CNSMEs were useful for detecting each analyte applied in brain slices. Because of the hydrophilic surface compared to CFMEs, CNSMEs also have reduced biofouling when used in tissue. Therefore, CNSMEs are useful for tissue measurements of adenosine, hydrogen peroxide, and histamine with high selectivity and low fouling.

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Funding

This work was funded by NIH R01MH085159 and NIH R01NS125663. Carbon nanospike growth was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under user agreement CNMS 2022-01117 and CNMS 2023-01815.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22901, USA

    He Zhao, Kailash Shrestha & B. Jill Venton

  2. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Dale K. Hensley

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  1. He Zhao
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  2. Kailash Shrestha
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Contributions

He Zhao: investigation; resources; and writing, original draft. Kailash Shrestha: brain slice puff-on testing. Dale K. Hensley: carbon nanospike growth. B. Jill Venton: project administration; visualization; and review, editing.

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Correspondence to B. Jill Venton.

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All animal experiments were approved by the University of Virginia Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

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All animals were purchased from Charles River.

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Animals were used in accordance with the guidelines on animal welfare published by OLAW from NIH. Experiments were approved by the University of Virginia Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

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Zhao, H., Shrestha, K., Hensley, D.K. et al. Carbon nanospikes have improved sensitivity and antifouling properties for adenosine, hydrogen peroxide, and histamine. Anal Bioanal Chem 415, 6039–6050 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-023-04875-5

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