Fabrication of Protein Chip with Ni-Co Alloy Coated Surface

In this study, a Ni-Co alloy coated protein chip was fabricated by means of electrodepositing nickel and cobalt on the substrate surface. The protein was immobilized on the coated surface by the affinity mechanism of nickel and cobalt which belong to the intermediate metal group. Then, the immunoreaction can be performed on the chip. The results show that the alloy coating belongs to abnormal codeposition of Ni-Co alloy. The proportion of Ni-Co composition will affect the affinity of electroplated layer with protein and, consequentially, influence the results of immunoassay. Thus, in this paper the Taguchi method was adopted to determine the optimal fabrication process of the Ni-Co alloy coated chip using L18 orthogonal array. The experimental factors that affect the performance of abnormal codeposition include the quantity of cobalt, current density of electroplating, operation temperature, and pH of electroplating buffer. The major purpose of this research is the planarization of IMAC technique so that biological molecular can be absorbed on protein chip for further analysis. The advantages of this novel protein chip include good performance, high repeatability, and less cost.