Abstract

The engineered addition of hexa-histidine sequences to biomolecules such as antibody fragments has been found to be an excellent means of purifying these materials. This tagging methodology has also been extended to its use as a tool for immobilization and orientation of antibodies on transducer surfaces. Polyvinyl sulfonate-doped polyanilne (PANI/PVS) can be used as a mediator in amperometric biosensors. This short communication looks at the effect of nickel chelate materials and nickel chelation on this conducting polymer and evaluates it as a potential surface for the immobilization of his-tagged biomolecules. N-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) was doped into the electropolymerized PANI/PVS at a screen-printed carbon paste electrode. The resulting NTA-PANI/PVS film was shown to have comparable electrochemical properties of polymer without the chelating agent. When Ni2+ was applied to the electrode, the incorporated NTA was found to efficiently chelate the metal ions at the electrode surface.