Simultaneous detection of purine bases on Cu2O nanoparticles based electrochemical biosensor

Electrochemical determination of purine bases using screen-printed and spray-coated working electrodes on alumina substrate based on Cu₂O nanoparticles is described in this work. Cu₂O nanoparticles were synthetized using simple precipitation method and used for thick-film planar microelectrodes fabrication. The Cu₂O nanoparticles were characterized by SEM and XRD analysis, which showed the presence of spherical aggregations with diameter of 1000 nm. Fabricated working electrodes based on these Cu₂O nanoparticles were successfully used for adenine and guanine determination. The purine bases were detected indirectly by reduction of Cu ions. The current response of both electrodes types decreased with increasing adenine or guanine concentration. More sensitive detection was achieved with spray-coated electrodes with higher active surface area.