Abstract
Developing a biofilm biomarker detector and inhibitor will immensely
benefit efforts geared at curbing infectious diseases and
microbiologically induced corrosion of medical implants, marine vessels
and buried steel pipelines. N-Acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) are
important biomarkers gram-negative bacteria use for communication. In
this work, we investigated the interactions between three AHL molecules
and graphene oxide (GO) and ZnO nanomaterials embedded in conjugated
poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) film. The results show that
PEDOT/GO/ZnO detected AHLs to a considerable extent with adsorption
enthalpies of −4.02, −4.87 and −4.97 KJ/mol, respectively, for
N-(2-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-yl)heptanamide (AHL1),
2-hydroxy-N-(2-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-yl)nonanamide (AHL2) and (E)-3-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-N-(2-oxotetrahydrofuran-3-yl)acrylamide
(AHL3) molecules. The ZnO nanoparticles facilitated charge
redistribution and transfer, thereby enhancing the conductivity and
overall sensitivity of the substrate toward the AHLs. The adsorption
distance and sites of interactions further tuned the charge migration
and signal generation by the substrate, thus affirming the suitability
of the modeled thin film as a sensor material. Excellent stability and
conductivity were maintained before and after the adsorption of each AHL
molecule. Moreover, the desorption time for each AHL molecule was
calculated, and the result affirmed that the modeled film materials are
promising for developing highly sensitive biosensors.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Journal | Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics |
ISSN | 0739-1102 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2025 |
Keywords
- N-acyl homoserine lactone
- PEDOT
- Sensors
- Graphene oxide
- Quorum sensing