Protein extracting electrodes: Insights in the mechanism

We report on solid electrodes shielded with thin layer of non-polar organic solvent containing both redox mediator and micelles forming surfactant, which are able to generate redox activity in the presence of proteins. By means of both electrochemical investigations and spectrophotometric enzyme activity assays we convincingly prove that the observed current increase (up to two orders of magnitude) is due to protein extraction into the shielding layer. Hence, we are able to refer to such electrodes as to the protein extracting ones.